A training on “terrace gardening and bio-manure manufacturing” organised jointly by the National Facility for Marine Cyanobacteria (NFMC) and Centre for Women’s Studies, Bharathidasan University, and Women Entrepreneurs Association of Tamil Nadu (WEAT), on the university campus recently.
A large number of men and women, including farmers, retired government officials, teachers, and farm workers from Tiruchi, Pudukottai, Karur, Thanjavur, Perambalur, and Tiruchi districts participated. Interestingly, a good percentage of them had developed terrace gardens which, however, had withered away.
They not only got useful tips to revive the same but were also confident of motivating their neighbours in their apartments to utilise the available space on the terrace. The training focussed on the uses of bio fertilisers such as ‘karaisal’ (solution) of ‘jiwamrita’, ‘Bhramasthra’, ‘neekarasal’, ‘panchakaviya’, and ‘cyanopith’, effective micro organism, which would stabilise plants’ growth. The training focussed on proper maintenance of terrace gardens and a sustained follow-up and supervision of the plants. A few of them pleaded for raising ‘tulsi’, ‘omavalli’, and ‘santhanamullai’ at available space around a house to check mosquito menace.
N. Manimekalai, Director and Head, Centre for Women’s Studies, spoke on the need for greening the environment, and the advantages of terrace gardening. She suggested application of organic manure to improve the quality of vegetables, greens, mints, herbs, flowers and fruits.
She appealed to women members of self-help groups to take advantage of the training and take up terrace gardening as a gainful vocation.
She said that 10 select trainees would be imparted special training to popularise terrace gardening as a movement in places such as Manachanallur, Lalgudi, Somarasampettai, Manapparai, Keeranur, Tiruverumbur and Samayapuram.
P. Malliga, a resource-person, explained the need for protecting environment.
