The Hindu : Business : Exploit traditional strengths for growth: M.S. Swaminathan

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Nov 13, 2007
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Exploit traditional strengths for growth: M.S. Swaminathan

K. Venkiteswaran

Food and water security have become major concerns

KOCHI: Dr. M.S. Swaminathan has said that States like Kerala should exploit its specific strengths like ayurveda and tourism potential if it wants to grow in a competitively globalised economy.

Talking to The Hindu in Kochi recently, Dr. Swaminathan pointed out that people in Kerala were slowly moving from the primary sector to the secondary and tertiary sectors. This was a world-wide trend and Kerala cannot be isolated from this, he noted.

He says that food and water security had become major concerns in the world.

In our country, there are three aspects to food security. One is availability of food in the market. Kerala has in some way been ahead in having a universal public distribution system.

The government of India will have to reckon with a public distribution system because Kerala has not been producing the food it required.

Availability of food in the market and some kind of diversification of diet, with more vegetables, should be of major concern to Kerala to ensure food security.

The Horticultural Mission should be strengthened and efforts be made to grow our own vegetables here. There is good potential for vegetable cultivation in Idukki district, which on its own can feed the State if there are proper measures taken. The people should also understand that it is important to have a balanced diet and clean drinking water. Another important aspect is with regard to economic access to food.

Value addition to primary products is a must if the State is to grow economically. This is where the secondary and tertiary sectors, which are slowly growing in Kerala, can play a vital role.

People are slowly growing away from the primary sector, to the other sectors. This is the world trend, where, to get out of a poverty trap, you will have to go in the value chain, up.

Tourism is certainly one, then health tourism, Kerala has got all the three aspects - health tourism, nature tourism and spiritual tourism - all the three. The infrastructure has to be strengthened and ecological discipline must be enforced because, otherwise, it will not be sustainable over a period of time.

Another aspect of Kerala’s agriculture is the medicinal plants - ayurveda and heritage. That requires much more scientific validation if they are to be of universal acceptance. There are doubts about heavy metals in medicines based on ayurveda prescriptions. These should be scientifically cleared, he said.

Dr. Swaminathan said that ayurveda and tourism were a goldmine for Kerala. “It they are nurtured properly, growth will be natural. Scientifically, you can have a system of medicine which is holistic. Not one against another - allopathic versus ayurveda,” he noted.

“Preserve traditional advantages and maximise it,” is the mantra. We should create more medicinal plant gardens in Kerala. He recalled that there was a proposal for a herbal bio-valley starting from Silent Valley in Palakkad to Wayanad. This is something like Silicon Valley in the United States. What is Silicon Valley to information technology, bio-valley is to BT, he said.

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