300 rural youth trained
300 rural youth trained through 15 programmes of 10 days each in comprehensive nursery technology skills across Karur, Dindigul and Virudhunagar districts.
Nursery technology training — forest & horticultural crops
A Coodu Trust initiative that equipped rural youth with professional nursery skills for raising quality seedlings — delivered across Karur, Dindigul and Virudhunagar districts of Tamil Nadu.
300
Rural youth trained
15
Training programmes
10
Days per programme
3
Districts covered
The project
What this project set out to do
Project mission
Equipping rural youth with professional nursery technology skills for raising quality seedlings of forest and horticultural crop species — creating skilled nursery professionals who can support afforestation programmes, supply the horticulture industry, and build sustainable self-employment through nursery enterprises that contribute to Tamil Nadu's green cover expansion.
Delivered by Coodu Trust in 2013–2014, the programme trained 300 unemployed and underemployed rural youth through 15 training programmes of 10 days each across Karur, Dindigul and Virudhunagar districts. Trainees gained dual competency — seed-based propagation for forest species and vegetative propagation for horticultural crops — along with full nursery management, from site selection and potting media to pest control and record keeping.
The training feeds directly into Coodu Trust's wider nursery and plantation work, where trained hands have supported plantation drives that together planted 26,93,250 trees across all programmes. Government afforestation schemes such as TNCWP, IWDP, DPAP and social forestry provide steady demand for the seedlings these nursery professionals now raise.
- Forest species
- Fruit crops
- Ornamentals & flower crops
- Nursery enterprise
Why this work matters
The challenge on the ground — and our answer
The challenge
Rural youth without marketable green skills
Unemployed and underemployed young people in Karur, Dindigul and Virudhunagar had few pathways into the growing demand for quality seedlings and nursery work.
Our response
Intensive dual-skill training at scale
300 rural youth trained through 15 programmes of 10 days each — covering both seed-based propagation of forest species and vegetative propagation of horticultural crops.
The challenge
Plantation drives without local seedling supply
Afforestation programmes and horticulture markets need a steady supply of quality seedlings — hard to sustain without skilled nursery capacity close to the field.
Our response
A trained workforce close to the planting
Ten days of practical instruction in each of three districts produced local nursery hands who could raise seedlings where the plantation drives needed them — from the 41,250 trees planted with ATC Tyres in Manur block to the 1,20,000 saplings planted under the SBI CSR programme in 2024–25.
At a glance
The essentials
- Scheme
- Trust initiativeDelivered by Coodu Trust for unemployed & underemployed rural youth
- Period
- 2013–201415 training programmes of 10 days each
- Coverage
- 3 districtsKarur, Dindigul & Virudhunagar, Tamil Nadu
- Beneficiaries
- 300 youth trainedPlus 27 SHG women trained in nursery management under Mahalir Thittam
- Linked partners
- Plantation drivesState Bank of India CSR (1,20,000 saplings, 2024–25), ATC Tyres through United Way Mumbai (41,250 trees), Lions Club Palani (10,000 seedlings), Buvaneshwari & Co Spinning Mills (6,000 agro-plants)
- Part of
- Nursery & plantation workSeedlings feed afforestation under TNCWP, IWDP, DPAP and social forestry
Outcomes
What the project changed
Dual propagation competency
Trainees gained both seed-based (forest) and vegetative (horticultural) propagation skills — valuable to commercial nurseries, government afforestation programmes and self-run nursery enterprises.
Self-employment pathway
Training enabled low-capital nursery enterprises with demand from afforestation programmes, government supply contracts and private landscape and gardening markets.
Get involved
Grow green skills and green cover
Help us train the next generation of nursery professionals whose seedlings power afforestation, horticulture and rural self-employment across Tamil Nadu.