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| Meenadam Raju, Vattathodi, Lakkattoor, Kottayam |
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While studying in standard 6, Meenadam Raju had defeated his teacher Kuriyannoor Mathew in vegetable cultivation. While the teacher’s produce could be sold for Rs3.50 per kg, Raju, who was then known as K.K.Abraham, was able to sell the same item for Rs.4.
The blessings of his teacher and the willingness to work hard saw him turn a sloppy and rocky terrain of 1 acre 5 cents into a green house of success. He had purchased this land at Vattathodi, Lakkattoor in 1990 after selling his ancestral property of 35 cents.
That the land did not have water only compounded his handicaps. But Raju was never to say die.
With hard work compensating for all other weaknesses of the farm, Raju cultivated coconut, rubber, pepper, jack fruit, teak etc. First he blasted the rocks and built 13 contour bunds. And then worked in this farm and a leased plot from very early in the morning till late in the evening. The result, after 10 years, is there for all to see.
By the effort of constant toil, the rocky soil of the slopping terrain has become the breeding ground of giant yams and other vegetables.
The ‘Karshka Thilakam’ award of Kuroppada Service Cooperative Bank is one of the many laurels that have come his way. Since 1994, he has won the ever-rolling trophy of Kottayam Agri-Horticultural Society every year except twice.
This year he won most of the prizes in the melas conducted by the Agri-Horticultural Societies of Kozhencherry, Thiruvalla, Mavelikkara and Kottayam. Similarly, in the state farmers’ meet held at Thiruvananapuram and Thrissur, his banana, pumpkin and ‘chembu’ won prizes. In the competition organized by the District Panchayat, Kottayam too, he had won the 1st prize for elephant yam.
Courtesy: M.M.Thomas, Karshakan, April 2003
Contributed by: Administrator
