Former MLC C.S. Arun Machaiah has been unanimously re-elected as the President of Kodagu Orange Growers’ Co-operative Society for the term 2014-2018.
Kodagu Cooperative Association’s Deputy Registrar R. Sridhar was the election officer.
Rest of the office-bearers too were re-elected unanimously and they vowed to revive orange cultivation in Kodagu, which has seen improvement in the past few years.
K.G. Appaiah of Mekoor village is the Society’s Vice-President. The Directors are: Sunil Madappa of Gonikoppa town, K.U. Arun Poonacha of Devarapura, Arvind Kuttappa of Gonikoppa, S. Vishwanath of Mayamudi, C. Somanna of Balele, A.R. Krishnakumar of Devarapura, Sumi Subbaiah of Aruvathoklu, Shobha Kuttappa of Mekoor, K.K. Dinesh of Hathur and S.S. Suresh of Mayamudi.
source: http://www.starofmysore.com / Star of Mysore / Home> General News / October 21st, 2013
OUT OF PLACE?: In Alur taluk, a herd of 25–30 elephants inhabit a tiny 5-sq. km forest patch circumscribed by agricultural fields that they routinely raid, according to M.D. Madhusudan, a member of the Karnataka Elephant Task Force./ File photo / The Hindu At least 25 wild elephants are set to be caught in Alur taluk of Hassan district
With a green signal from the Karnataka High Court on Tuesday, the Department of Forests now sets about planning its biggest ever operation to capture wild elephants since the State’s last ‘khedda’ in 1971, when 47 animals were captured.
At the very least, this would mean the capture and taming of around 25 elephants in Hassan’s Alur taluk, the epicentre of human-elephant conflict in the State. The Karnataka Elephant Task Force in its report to the High Court in September 2012, identified two regions — Alur and Tumkur district’s Savandurga — as “elephant removal zones” for the “unacceptable levels” of conflict they encountered.
The department, however, places “the outer limit” for the number of elephants to be captured at 150 and hope to extend the ‘removal zone’ to parts of Kodagu where human-elephant conflict is intense. “The actual number we capture will be much less, but we’ll have to take a call on areas such as Kodagu based on an assessment of conflict levels and perceptions of people here,” said Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (Wildlife) G.S. Prabhu.
‘Extreme measure’
Members of the task force don’t quite agree. Removing wild elephants from a natural landscape is “an extreme measure” and one that should be done with the “greatest judiciousness”, said M.D. Madhusudan, scientist with the Nature Conservation Foundation and task force member. Only two areas have been identified by the task force as potential “removal zones” and Kodagu is not one of them, he said.
Alur was an anomaly of sorts and justifies the approach, he explained. The conflict in Alur was intense, and the elephant population was ecologically unviable. “Here, a herd of 25–30 elephants inhabit a tiny 5-sq. km forest patch circumscribed by agricultural fields that they routinely raid.” Between 1986 and 2011, elephants killed 46 people and injured over 240, according to the task force report, creating a “fear psychosis among people that hampers their ability to work and live normal lives.”
The situation in Kodagu was not adequately studied yet, said Raman Sukumar, chairman of the Centre for Ecological Sciences, Indian Institute of Science. “We first need to assess the conflict situation in Kodagu, understand the dynamic of elephants here (are they transitory, for instance) before we decide on a course of action.”
Meanwhile, the Department of Forests has set aside Rs. 4 crore to create kraals to restrain elephants captured, which typically take a year to tame, and new elephant camps. “The project can only begin in January, after the rain,” Mr. Prabhu said, and added that the department would be using a combination of methods that incorporate elements from traditional ‘khedda’ (stockade traps) and also modern-day chemical tranquilising.
BACK TO THE WILD
Even as it prepares for a large-scale capture of elephants, the department, ironically, admits that its 10 camps, which together have 91 elephants, are too crowded.
“We are looking at the possibility of returning around 30 of these back to the wild,” Mr. Prabhu said.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> National> Karnataka / by Divya Gandhi / Bangalore – October 13th, 2013
Governor H.R. Bhardwaj with Ashit Sagar Puttannanavar, one of the prize winners, at the valedictory function of the 59th Wildlife Week in Bangalore on Monday. / Photo: Bhagya Prakash K. / The Hindu
Wild elephants that have for years posed a major problem to the lives and livelihoods of residents in Hassan’s Alur taluk and in Kodagu’s Virajpet could soon be captured and tamed, Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (Wildlife) G.S. Prabhu said on Monday.
The Department of Forests had, earlier this year, proposed the capture of several problem elephants that routinely raided crops and came in conflict with people.
Mr. Prabhu was speaking at the valedictory function of the 59th Wildlife Week organised by the department, where schoolchildren were given prizes for essay and painting competitions on the theme ‘The importance of environmental protection’.
A sum of Rs. 21 crore had been earmarked to mitigate the human-animal conflict in the State, Minister for Forests, Environment and Ecology, B. Ramanath Rai, said.
Governor H.R. Bhardwaj said several species across the world were endangered because of human greed. He added that the budget allocation for wildlife conservation should be increased.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> National> Karnataka / by Special Correspondent / Bangalore – October 08th, 2013
Horticulture department
You may get to savour the famous ‘Kodagina Kittale’ (Kodagu orange) again. The State Horticulture Department has decided to revive the now-extinct variety.
“Our department is tying up with the Indian Institute of Horticultural Sciences (IIHS), Chettalli in Kodagu, to revive ‘Kodagina Kittale’. We are ready to pump in whatever funds required for the purpose,” said Horticulture Department Principal Secretary M K Shankarlinge Gowda.
A couple of decades ago, Kodagu was famous for its variety of orange known for its taste. Coffee planters used to grow the plants in the coffee estates. Over the years, it became extinct because of frequent pest attacks. Gowda said his department will take assistance from the IIHS to revive the citric fruit.
Chettalli farm has around 160 acres of land on which orange saplings will be raised. Once they are ready for transplantation, they will be distributed to farmers and estate owners. Scientists at IIHS will be requested to make those plants pest-resistant so that they will not vanish again. In fact, there is a group of agriculture graduates in Kodagu which is interested in the revival of the variety. “We will rope in their services to create awareness among the people to go for orange cultivation again,” Gowda said.
He said, during hey days orange was planted on more than 2,000 hectares in Kodagu district as the climate is well suited for growing this citric fruit. But now it vanished from coffee estates.
Although Kodagina Kittale cannot compete with the orange of Nagpur, still it has its own place.
No Dearthof Funds
Gowda said plenty of funds are available under Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojna and Competitive Horticulture Programme for promotion of horticulture crops in the state. Around `240 crore is now available with the department and it can spend this money at its discretion.
“My aim is to revive all rare fruits, flowers and vegetables for which Karnataka is known, at least for the future generation,” he said.
A Nanaiah, a resident of Kodagu, said loads of oranges were harvested and sent to neighbouring states but the pests pushed this rare variety of orange to extinct. “As children, we used to eat this orange but now we miss it,” he laments.
source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Cities> Bangalore / by Shyam Sundar Vattan / October 07th, 2013
The tiny hill district of Kodagu (Coorg) in Karnataka is facing an ecological disaster with the President of India giving his assent to a controversial legislation which allows the disposal and sale of Jamma lands in Kodagu located in the fragile Western Ghats. It is feared that the resultant denudation of the forests in the region could trigger an environmental damage with unpredictable consequences.
The repercussions of the legislation — The Karnataka Land Revenue (Third Amendment), Act, 2011, which received Presidential assent early this year after the bill was referred to the President by the Karnataka governor last year, will not only be severe on the Western Ghats region, considered as one of world’s bio-diversity hotspots, but will also take its toll on the customary laws, traditions and culture of the indigenous communities.
Jamma land tenure is unique to Kodagu district and it is estimated that the extent of ‘Jamma Baane’ land in Kodagu is around 2.55 lakh acres in possession of the local people — Kodavas, Amma-Kodavas, Heggades, Airis, Koyavas, Moplas and Gaudas. Jamma lands consist of wetland for growing paddy and the accompanying Baane land, initially used for cattle grazing and held free of assessment, now converted into coffee estates.
According to Sir J B Lyall, a British expert on tenures in Coorg who traced the origin of Jamma, it was originally a military tenure held on payment of half the assessment in consideration of military service. Jamma was granted under ‘sanads’ largely by the Coorg Rajas (1600 AD to 1834 AD) and to a smaller extent by the British till 1895 to the local inhabitants.
Hitherto, there was a ban on the sale of Jamma lands as the cultivator was only a ‘deemed owner’. The new legislation will confer the title of ‘occupant owner’ and allows the sale of land. The legislation, it is feared, will legitimise large scale denudation of trees and the formation of human settlements on Jamma Bane lands as there will be heavy influx of population from the neighbouring states. The presence of increased human habitation will have its impact on the adjoining forest land, its flora and fauna.
For generations, the life of the local communities, centered around the cultivation of the Jamma lands, the principal tenure in Kodagu. The Jamma lands could not be alienated as there was no provision for transferring the title of the property. The ownership was jointly held by the clan and it was managed by the head of the clan (Pattedara).
The issue went before the Karnataka high court and a full bench of the court held in its judgement delivered in October, 1993 that Jamma Baane landholders had limited privileges for cattle grazing, supply of firewood and timber for the domestic and agriculture purposes, but had no right to exploit the trees for commercial purposes, unless the holder had paid full timber value to the government. The court also held that the land-owner had no right to the sub-soil.
Customs and traditions
Once the ban on the sale of Jamma lands is lifted, the indigenous communities will be removed from their traditional Jamma holdings which formed the basis of their customs and traditions. The ‘ain-mane’ or the ancestral houses of the clans, was the focal point of all festivities and religious usages. It is feared that once the Jamma lands are sold to outsiders, the new land owners could lay claim to the ‘ain-manes,’ considered sacred to the local communities. This could lead to social tensions and law and order problem.
The biggest threat will come from the real estate mafia who were eyeing the Jamma lands all these years. With tourism boom in Kodagu, the local communities will be under pressure to sell their lands as the state will not have any control over them. It is learnt that already Jamma lands are being sold in anticipation of the new law taking effect.
The amendment to the Jamma tenure was effected during the previous BJP regime. The amendment was politically motivated and passed in haste without much debate in the Legislative Assembly, reportedly at the instance of the then Speaker K G Bopaiah who wanted to take political advantage. One of the reasons for Bopaiah’s re-election from the Virajpet constituency was on account of the political mileage he gained by getting the amendment passed.
The new amendment will create more problems than it hopes to solve. Those who drafted the amendment bill have failed to recognise the fact that apart from Jamma Baane lands, there are other types of Baanes — ‘Hithlu’ and ‘Sagu Baane’ lands.
Advocate K Sarojini Muthanna, who is knowledgeable on Jamma tenure matters, has suggested that the government should carry out further amendments to the Karnataka Land Revenue Act, 1964, devoting a separate chapter for the Jamma lands of Kodagu. The main support for the amendment has come from Akhila Kodava Samaja, representing a small section of the Kodavas. The president of the Samaja, Mathanda C Monnappa, opined that the amendment removed ‘irritants’ by way of government circulars which gave the impression that the land belonged to the government.
A large section of people, however, feel that in the interest of preserving the culture of Kodagu, and maintaining the ecological balance in the Western Ghats, the Siddaramaiah government should not give effect to the amendment to the Jamma land tenure.
source: http://www.deccanherald.com / Deccan Herald / Home> Panorama / by P.T.Bopanna / July 24th, 2013
City-based International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) has launched today EXPLOREit@ICRISAT (exploreit.icrisat.org), which makes large volumes of agricultural scientific knowledge and information easily accessible to the public.
“We are doubly excited — not only have we given easier access to all of ICRISAT’s 40 years of scientific research through EXPLOREit, but we have achieved this through the MultiProfiler concept, a revolutionary way of making information accessible,” ICRISAT Director General William D Dar said.
We found that typical websites are too restrictive in giving access to information, and do not present the information in ways that are easy for people to view the detail of the content.
ICRISAT’s new MultiProfiler concept provides information through multiple navigations and creates easy to view profiles on the subject areas,” explained Joanna Kane-Potaka, ICRISAT Director of Strategic Marketing and Communication.
“Sharing publicly-funded agricultural information in the most accessible way is critically important to achieve our agricultural development goals of reducing rural poverty, increasing food security, improving human health and nutrition, and ensuring more sustainable management of natural resources,” Dar said.
EXPLOREit is now to become the main source of ICRISAT’s scientific information with profiles of all topics, systems, crops, locations and resources where it works.
“It sets a new standard for sharing of information, and therefore promotes collaboration. To achieve this, ICRISAT has made a momentous leap in its use of technology with EXPLOREit-a dynamic site that feeds information from databases using tags and harvests information from other websites,” an ICRISAT release said.
source: http://www.thehindubusinessline.com / Business Line / Home> Industry> Agri-Biz / by PTI / September 26th, 2013
K.V. Kurmanath, Senior Assistant Editor, Business Line, has been conferred the ‘Rythu Nestam’ Award – 2013 for excellence in agricultural reporting.
Kurmanath has specialised in agricultural reporting and been writing for over two decades including the last 10 years in Business Line.
The awards have been instituted by agricultural monthly/daily, Rythu Nestam, on the occasion of its ninth anniversary. The categories of awards included farmers, agricultural scientists and journalists.
K. Rosaiah, Governor of Tamil Nadu, gave away the awards to the winners at a function here on Thursday.
source: http://www.thehindubusinessline.com / Business Line / Home> Industry> Agri-Biz / by the Hindu Bureau / September 26th, 2013
Wild elephant menace in the coffee plantations in various parts of Kodagu has been increasing every passing day. The reason for the increase in the elephants entry into coffee plantations is the jackfruits and bananas grown in the coffee plantations, which draw attention of the elephants in search of food. In order to save their coffee plantations from elephants, coffee growers have begun to destroy banana and jackfruit yields in their plantations
Wild elephant menace is rampant in Aiguru, Kandanakolli, Kodlipet in Somwarpet taluk and Srimangala, Ammathi, Ponnampet in Virajpet taluk. Forests in these areas mostly comprise of teak wood which is why elephants are falling short of food. In addition, the water pits dug to supply water to coffee plants too are inviting elephants to enter coffee plantations to drink water. Repeated requests of the villagers to the forest department to chase elephants back to the forest have gone futile. It can be recalled that a two wheeler rider was killed by a wild elephant near Aiguru a fortnight ago.
Disappointed over the lukewarm response from the forest department and the failure of solar fencing, now the coffee growers have found their own ways to keep away the elephants by destroying fruit bearing plants like banana and jackfruit in their estates. One can view jackfruits piled up on the roadside near Aiguru on the way from Madikeri to Somwarpet. Growers hope the elephants to hog these jackfruits instead of entering into their plantations.
In fact, some of the growers have also made attempts to cut jackfruit trees, but could not as they do not posses the trees rights. In many estates, the coffee growers have cut the banana plants.
Speaking to Deccan Herald, coffee plantation labour Murugesh said that with the broken solar fences, the coffee growers have no other option but to cut jackfruit and banana plantations.
source: http://www.deccanherald.com / Deccan Herald / Home> District / by Srikanth Kallammanavar / Madikeri, DHNS / June 20th, 2013
Kodagu is inundated after recent downpours. – DNA
The copious amount of rain that areas near Bhagamandala in Kodagu received in the recent past has pronounced good news for the people of Bangalore and Mysore. The rainwater has started filling up the Krishnaraja Sagar reservoir in Srirangapatna taluk in Mandya district, which is the main source of water for Bangalore and Mysore.
As a result of the heavy rain on the hills of Madikeri, the Bhagamandala-Talacauvery area, which resembled a drought stricken place a few days back, filled people with joy, despite the road from Bhagamandala-Napoklu being inundated, throwing life out of gear.
People did not mind their children missing classes and ignored the absence of the workers in their fields and plantations, and chose to just sit back and enjoy the rain. Men settled down with their bottle of rum while ladies were in a holiday mood and many of them cooked their signature dish ‘Pandi Curry’(pork chops) and ‘Pundi’ (rice dumplings) for their family.
“This is the time to be happy. Kodagu is looked upon by the people in the Cauvery basin as the provider of life. We were sad when there was less water in Cauvery. But, for the past few weeks, the elders were worried about the drought like situation in Bhagamandala and the entire river course of Cauvery and the dry situation at the KRS,” said Prasad Nanjappa, a resident of Madikeri town.
Confirming copious inflow of water into the reservoir, executive engineer of the KRS facility told dna that the inflow improved tremendously to reach 4,300 cusecs per day, which subsequently increased the water level from 65 feet in the past week to 80.16 feet.
“With the rains in Kodagu district intensifying, we expect more water to flow into the KRS reservoir in the next few days,” he added.
Meanwhile, the Kodagu district administration has declared holidays for schools and colleges for the next two days.
source:http://www.dnaindia.com / DNA / Home> Bangalore> Report / by M Raghuram / Place:Mysore, Agency:DNA / Wednesday – June 26th, 2013
Rain Man: Abraham Tharakan with his son, Bobby / Photo: K.K. Mustafah / The Hindu Abraham Tharakan’s family has been recording rainfall since the late 1950s. He talks about his family’s unique engagement and its relevance in these times. Shilpa Nair Anand learns about the family’s unique engagement and its relevance in these times.
Rain is on everyone’s mind this year, every millimetre and inch of rain is a conversation piece. But a family in Muvattupuzha is ‘into’ rainfall and has been recording it for close to 50 years.
There is a story to how Abraham Tharakan’s family got interested in rains, specifically in measuring rainfall. His grandfather, his namesake, a native of Thaikattussery, moved from the traditional coconut and paddy cultivation into plantation agriculture. He bought land in Kothamangalam in the late 1920s or early 30s for this purpose.
“My father, also Abraham Tharakan, had the green thumb. He started cardamom, coffee and rubber plantations. And then in the 1950s he heard about coffee plantations in Coorg,” Abraham Tharakan reminisces. A huge photograph of his late father dominates the drawing room in the house in Muvattupuzha. A smaller oil painting of his grandfather rests on a corner table.
Abraham Tharakan’s family has been recording rainfall since the late 1950s. It started out as a planter’s necessity in Coorg, which it still is, Tharakan says. He shows records of the rains in Muvattapuzha from 1988. If you are wondering how much rainfall Muvattupuzha received in July 1989, all you need to do is refer to his meticulously well-kept records. It rained 150 days in 2002 as compared to the 124 days in 2001; in 2010 Muvattupuzha got 4. 25 inches of rain in one-and-a-half hours and the same year it got 7.75 inches over a 24 hour period. “I had records of rain in Kothamangalam from the 1970s too. Some of those were lost when we shifted here.”
Dedicated notebooks
The ‘records’ are maintained in notebooks dedicated to recording rainfall. Some of the books are informal notebooks. But the records since 2000 are in a specific notebook, which he bought from Coorg. “When Kodavas buy property, one of the first records they ask for, even before the land deed, is the rain chart. Their conversations start with ‘how much did you get?’”
The record-keeping started with his father, during his days in Coorg. He remembers seeing his first rain gauge as a 10-year-old. “There was hardly any irrigation there and planters solely depended on rain. Coffee is a one time crop and untimely rain can damage the crop. The idea behind monitoring weather conditions was to help agricultural operations,” he says. When his father returned to Thaikattusserry (Alappuzha) he installed a rain gauge there. Father and son would exchange notes on the rainfall received, something which he does today with his sons, Ebbey and Bobby. The coastal belt gets less rainfall as compared to the high ranges, he says. “If Muvattupuzha gets an average of 110 inches of rain then Kochi would get an average of 90 inches of rainfall,” says this engineer-turned planter.
As we chat, his son informs him that Kothamangalam has already recorded 13 inches of rainfall till July 8. When Tharakan talks about the rain it becomes clear how little we know about it. “There is a difference between getting four inches of rain and three-and-a-half inches.” An agriculturist needs to know the pattern of rainfall received. He shows the rainfall patterns of 2010 and 2011, during the monsoon, and the chart for 2012. The charts show a clear deficit of rainfall during the June-July period.
“If someone had been monitoring rainfall then the power shortage could have been anticipated and corrective measures could have been taken before it was too late.” He is not only talking from a planter’s point of view.
He is against the attitude of taking rain for granted, “you cannot sit back thinking it will rain because it rained the year before. There is all this talk about the water table and rain water harvesting…but how much do we know about rain?”
He even records the number of days it rains each year. Ebbey and Bobby measure the rainfall and make the records.
“My sons go on the Net for accurate weather forecasts. If it rains more in November rubber tapping is affected. This way we know what the weather is going to be; so we can be prepared. The Indian Meteorological Department is very accurate and so are the satellite pictures in The Hindu. The various websites are extremely helpful. Information is more detailed; it is very different from what it was in my time.”
He has not missed a single day of recording rainfall. Outings are planned in such a way that they don’t hamper the recording, his wife says. There is always somebody around to monitor rainfall.
Another cause
Abraham Tharakan is a member of the All Kerala Parents’ Association of the Deaf. The cause of the deaf is close to his heart as both his sons are hearing impaired. He counsels parents of similar children. He moved to Kerala from Mysore in 1976. He was at the All India Institute of the Hearing Impaired aiding them in their treatment. Both his sons look after the estates; they are perfect examples of assimilation. Ebbey and Bobby even have driving licenses.
How it works
The rain gauge is a cylindrical metal pipe with a funnel inside with a container placed under it to collect rainwater which is then measured.
The gauge is not high-tech. The rainwater once collected in the gauge is then measured using a cylindrical measuring glass used specifically to record rain.
The previous day’s rain is measured every morning at 7 a.m.
Of the rain gauges he uses, one is ‘made in Coorg’. He has installed two in his garden, but he finds the ‘Coorg’ one more reliable.
He bought one from Kochi but he is not sure about its accuracy because there is a variation in the sizes, which, he believes, might hamper accuracy.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Features> MetroPlus / by Shilpa Nair Anand / Kochi – July 14th, 2013
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