Renowned Indian organic farming scientist G Nammalvar passed away on Monday at nearby Atthivatti of a cardiac arrest, his associates said.
He was 75.
Nammalvar’s associates said he was on his way to Athivatti to organise a demonstration against a methane gas project when he complained of chest pain and collapsed. He was pronounced dead at a hospital where he was rushed to, they said.
Nammalvar was instrumental in advising farmers in Tamil Nadu to go for organic farming.
Born in 1938 in Elangadu in Thanjavur district, the BSc (Agriculture) graduate worked as a scientist in Agricultural Regional Research Station at Kovilpatti. He left the institute in 1969 as he felt they did not implement his idea of totally reorienting research work undertaken there.
Nammalvar then worked as an agronomist for ‘Island of Peace’, an organisation founded by Nobel laureate R.P. Dominic Pyre, and focused on improving the standard of living through agricultural development in Kalakad block of Tirunelveli district and since then began experimenting with sustainable agricultural methods.