Transition In Nilgiris

A laggard hill district’s journey to become open defecation free also led to it embracing organic farming

- Rashmi Verma

WHEN THE hill district of Nilgiris in Tamil Nadu finally became open defecation free in 2018 after years of constant effort, the residents of what used to be a laggard district celebrated the accomplishment with double the amount of zeal.

The extra dose of happiness was the result of a byproduct that is helping the primary occupation of the inhabitants of Nilgiris—which, like all across the country barring the cities, is agriculture. Nilgiris is known for its tea and coffee plantations and its traditional agricultural practices have died.

“The traditional agricultural practices have dwindled with the introduction of tea and other monocrops (carrots, beetroot, and potato) and the use of chemicals has increased exponentially,” says Madhavan, a 67-year-old farm owner. The district’s rural population is the worst affected by the excessive use of chemical fertilizers.

“Eight months of water crisis every year and high cost of chemical fertilizers are the two major setbacks for my farm production,” says 45-year-old Sundermurty, a vegetable grower at Keelkowatty village.

The need was a sustainable replacement for chemical fertilizers and the abundant resource was faecal sludge. The transformation of Nilgiris began much before the Swachh Bharat Mission’s push towards total sanitation. “Around 72 percent of the households had no access to toilets in 2009,” says Sampath Rajkumar, executive director of the Nilgiris-based non-profit Rural Development Organisation (RDO) Trust. “We work extensively with the rural population and help them understand the importance of sanitation,” says Rajkumar.