Over 20 farmers of Namakkal district received orientation on banana fibre and value addition with a view to promote entrepreneurship among marginalised communities, during a three-day training programme organised by ICAR–National Research Centre for Banana (NRCB) under the auspices of the Ainthinai Project of the State Directorate of Tribal Welfare recently.
T. Damodharan, director, ICAR-Central Institute of Sub-tropical Horticulture, emphasised the need for branding and creating profitable businesses from processed horticultural commodities. The institute was ready to bring fruits like guava, jamun, and mango into the processing cluster and to provide planting material to tribal farmers using retail outlets meant for sale of banana products.
R. Selvarajan, director, NRCB, said the workshop was a livelihood enhancement programme aimed at improving the socio-economic status of 200 Adi Dravidars each, belonging to Namakkal and Tiruppattur districts, including a substantial number of women.
The December 22-24 programme was held in coordination with the Vivekananda Trust and exposed participants to hands-on training, technology transfer, enterprise incubation, and sustained handholding.
The intervention is expected to generate an estimated additional income of ₹1,50,000-₹2,50,000 per beneficiary per year, depending on product mix, scale of operation, and market link, thereby creating sustainable and scalable rural enterprises.
Published – December 26, 2025 06:02 pm IST
