Farmer: Vanakkam!

Prime Minister: Namaskar! Are all these people into natural farming?

Farmer: Yes, sir.

Farmer: This is solar-dried banana.

Prime Minister: After harvesting the bananas…

Farmer: Yes, sir.

Prime Minister: And what do you do with the waste?

Farmer: All these are banana value-added products, and this is waste… Sir, this is from banana waste; this is from banana value addition, sir.

Prime Minister: And does your product get sold online across Bharat?

Farmer: Yes, sir

Farmer: Actually, we are representing the whole of Tamil Nadu here, sir. All the Farmer Producer Companies, and even individual farmers are also part of this, sir.

Prime Minister: Okay.

Farmer: We do everything: online sales, exports, and we also sell in the entire local market of India, including supermarkets, sir.

Prime Minister: How many people work together in one FPO?

Farmer: A thousand.

Prime Minister: One thousand?

Farmer: Yes, sir.

Prime Minister: Oh. And in one entire area, do you grow only bananas, or do you mix different things?

Farmer: In different areas, there are different exclusive crops, sir. Right now, we also have GI products.

Prime Minister: Okay, you have that too.

Farmer: There are four varieties of teas. Everyone knows black tea. And this is from that… (not clear). We call it white tea. And this is oolong. This is 40% fermented tea, oolong tea and green tea.

Prime Minister: These days, white tea has a big market.

Farmer: Yes, yes sir.

Farmer: Brinjal — all in natural farming.

Prime Minister: This season, are mangoes available…?

Farmer: Yes, mangoes, yes sir…

Farmer: Off-season mangoes…

Prime Minister: These days, does this have a big market?

Farmer: Moringa.

Prime Minister: Moringa!

Farmer: Yes, sir.

Prime Minister: And what do you do with the moringa leaves?

Farmer: We make moringa leaf powder and export it, sir.

Prime Minister: The powder is very…

Farmer: In demand.

Prime Minister: Very high demand.

Farmer: Yes, sir.

Prime Minister: Mainly which countries buy it?

Farmer: America, African countries, and Japan are major markets. We also get good demand from Southeast Asia…

Farmer: Actually, these are all GI products. We have displayed 25 GI products from Tamil Nadu here. Kumbakonam betel leaf, Madurai jasmine, and this one is also from Madurai, sir. And like this, all these items here…

Prime Minister: Where is the market for this?

Farmer: All over India, sir. And in Tamil Nadu, they use it in each and every function…

Prime Minister: Do people in my Kashi take it or not? Do they offer Banarasi paan to you?

Farmer: Yes, sir.

Farmer: This is the Palani Muruga…

Farmer: Less… There are 100-plus products, sir. From our side, starting with honey…

Prime Minister: And its market?

Farmer: Very large, sir. The demand is very high. For honey, we have a global market.

Farmer: We have nearly a thousand-plus paddy varieties in traditional varieties alone… equal to millets in terms of value, sir…

Prime Minister: In paddy, what Tamil Nadu has achieved…

Farmer: Yes, sir.

Prime Minister: The world has still not been able to match it.

Farmer: That’s true, sir.

Prime Minister: Yes.

Farmer: Sir, in this we export paddy, rice, and all the value-added products made from it. All of that has been displayed here now.

Prime Minister: Do the young generation of farmers come for training?

Farmer: Yes, sir. Now the number is very high.

Prime Minister: They must ask questions. They may not understand at first. A person with a PhD doing this work! And when they see the benefits, what do you explain to them?

Farmer: Earlier, people used to look at them as if they were crazy. But now they earn 2 lakh rupees a month. They earn more than a Collector, sir. That’s why people now consider them an inspiration.

Prime Minister: So now all the Collectors will come (to farming).

Farmer: We trained 7,000 farmers on our farm. It’s a model farm recognized under the natural farming scheme (TNAU). And 3,000 college students have also been trained.

Prime Minister: You get a market for your products?

Farmer: We directly market and export to other countries. Then we do value addition to the products — oil, hair oil, copra, soap.

Prime Minister: Who will buy your hair oil?

Prime Minister: And when I was in Gujarat, I had developed a concept called the cattle hostel.

Farmer: Yes.

Prime Minister: All the village cattle should be kept in the cattle hostel.

Farmer: Yes.

Prime Minister: Then the village stays clean, and you just need one doctor and four–five people for management. It is maintained very well.

Farmer: All this… we do mass production and give it to the nearby farmers…

Prime Minister: You give it to the farmers.

*****

MJPS/VJ/VK