Horticorp will clear dues to farmers before March 31 and ₹3 crore has been sanctioned for it, Agriculture Minister P. Prasad has said.
He was speaking to mediapersons at Mattupetty on Sunday evening after visiting the vegetable farms at Kanthalloor.
The amount would be given to Horticorp in phases.
He said that the government was launching a scheme to promote farming by all those who had land to achieve the objectives of the Subhiksha Keralam, Surakshitha Bhakshanam project. The campaign would be launched across the State and seeds and saplings would be supplied free of cost to the farmers. The project would be supported by all government departments.
Pesticide-free food
He said that pesticide-free food was a basic need and studies in this regard showed that 30% to 40% of lifestyle diseases was caused by the present food habits. Safe vegetables could be generated through a mass movement that brought all to farming, even if on a small scale.
He said that Vattavada and Kanthalloor were key places of cool-season vegetable cultivation. However, the farmers were forced to sell the produce to private agents who gave them money during the sowing season. Due to this dependency, the farmers did not get a competitive price for their produce. The vegetables from the two villages were known for minimum use of pesticides.
Processing centres
Mr. Prasad said that food processing and vegetable procuring centres would be opened to prevent vegetables from perishing, resulting in monetary loss to the farmers. Agribusiness companies would be promoted to make value-added products.
He said that nearly 70 lakh tonnes of vegetables were consumed in the State a year. In 2016, nearly 60 lakh tonnes of vegetables were produced in the State. The estimate of vegetable production last year was 15,70,000 tonnes. As many as 8,000 farmers’ societies would be formed to upgrade farm production and 2,000 farmers’ societies to make value-added products. Measures would be taken to protect traditional seeds and promote good agricultural practices, he said.
