Bindu Joseph, a farmer from Kozhikode (Kerala) has won the prestigious Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyay Antyodaya Krishi Puraskar-2021 was instituted by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), New Delhi.
On July 16, 2022, at a function marking the 94th Foundation Day of ICAR that was held in New Delhi, she was presented with the award by Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Narendra Singh Tomar.
She received the award, which included a check for Rs. 1 lakh, a citation, and a memento, in appreciation for her work on behalf of marginal, small, and landless farmers. The Indian Institute of Spices Research, Kozhikode's Krishi Vigyan Kendra (KVK) in Peruvannamuzhi nominated her.
The farmer, who is from Panthirikkara, won the award, according to KVK, Peruvannamuzhi, officials, for her outstanding contributions to the development of sustainable and integrated farming system models, focused initiatives on soil health and water conservation, management of farm waste, diversification of farm activities as sustainable and profitable units, and the horizontal dissemination of the technology among fellow farmers.
The 44-year-old also paid attention to the mass manufacturing of high-quality planting materials, the efficient use of land resources and inputs, and creative ways to spread agricultural knowledge, according to the sources.
Along with operating a successful commercial horticultural nursery, Ms. Joseph and her husband Jojo experimented with a coconut-based farming system on their 3.86 acres of land, using tubers, vegetable, banana, and other fruit plants as intercrops along with black pepper, nutmeg, ginger, and turmeric.
The farm is said to be the largest bush pepper production unit that is directly owned and run by farmers, according to KVK officials. They claimed that this land generates a total gross annual income of close to 33.75 lakhs.
According to a senior officer from KVK, Peruvannamuzhi, "Ms. Joseph is also a tech-savvy businesswoman who maintains a YouTube channel named "Techflora" with over 1,00,000 subscribers to share her revolutionary farming knowledge." In order to assist children, she also offers practical training to high school and college students in both on- and off-campus settings.
