Production and productivity in Kerala’s agriculture sector will be increased as part of the government’s efforts to bring Kerala to the level of developed middle-income countries in the next 25 years, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has said.
He was interacting with farmers and people from allied sectors at a Face-to-Face programme in Alappuzha on March 2.
Mr. Vijayan said the Kerala government was working towards increasing farmers’ income by at least 50%. “The government is taking measures to boost farmers’ income by introducing modern technologies and innovative schemes. The intervention of the cooperative sector in the farm sector will be strengthened with a focus on creating infrastructure facilities. Steps will be taken to ensure remunerative prices to farmers for their agricultural produce along with finding a market for value-added products,” Mr. Vijayan said.
Huge challenges
The Chief Minister said the government was committed to protecting the farm sector in the State from the “influence of agri-corporates”.
He said that farmers across the country were facing huge challenges in the absence of measures to ensure the price stability of crops and proper procurement of food grains. In Kerala, however, the government was making effective interventions to protect the interest of the farming community by increasing the budgetary allocation to the agriculture sector.
Mr. Vijayan said the government was giving special attention to paddy farming. “In the ongoing season, 1.47 lakh tonne of paddy has been procured from 2.34 lakh farmers so far. The government has distributed ₹335.10 crore as procurement price to 65,535 farmers. Another ₹203.9 crore has been allocated to the Kerala State Civil Supplies Corporation (Supplyco) for procuring paddy. It should be noted that the Centre owes Kerala ₹763 crore towards support price for the past three years. This year’s arrears alone run up to ₹388.81 crore. The State government cleared the paddy farmers’ dues without waiting for the Centre to release the amount,” the Chief Minister said.
Hub of winter vegetables
Mr. Vijayan said that Vattavada and Kanthalloor in Idukki district would be transformed into a hub of winter vegetables. Mr. Vijayan said that the rubber sector would be given special consideration.
Stating that climate change and crop damage by wild animals pose a huge challenge to the farm sector in Kerala, the Chief Minister said the government was initiating measures to mitigate the crises. He said that 193 agriculture products from 23 government farms would be made available on online platforms such Amazon and Flipkart under the Keralagro brand.
Agriculture Minister P. Prasad presided. Fisheries Minister Saji Cherian, Animal Husbandry Minister J. Chinchurani, A.M. Ariff, MP, rice gene bank conservator Sathyanarayana Beleri, Indian Statistical Institute’s Professor Madhura Swaminathan, State Farm awards winners K.A. Roymon, M. Srividya, S.P. Sujith, P. Bhuvaneshwari, and other experts were among those who attended the programme.
