The government is formulating a special scheme to promote the cultivation of coarse cereals such as millet, bajra, ragi, and maize.
Agriculture Minister V.S. Sunil Kumar told the Assembly on Thursday that efforts were on to set up a millet village at Attappady where tribes cultivate coarse cereals. The project, he said, was aimed at protecting the seeds of traditional varieties of millets and popularising them among farmers.
In a special statement on the programmes to be implemented by the Agriculture Department over the course of the year, the Minister said the government had initiated measures to set up a seed bank for the conservation of traditional varieties of crops, including paddy. The project would be taken up with technical assistance from Kerala Agricultural University.
A State Vegetable Board headed by the Agricultural Production Commissioner would be constituted to coordinate the activities of the Vegetable and Fruit Promotion Council Keralam (VFPCK), Horticorp, public sector institutions, KAU, and other agencies involved in horticulture.
The VFPCK, farming clusters and Kudumbasree units would be encouraged to take up commercial vegetable cultivation in at least 1,000 hectares of land every year.
A social audit mechanism would be introduced in the Agriculture Department and agro-clinics and agricultural labour banks set up at all Krishi Bhavans. Model agricultural farms would be established at all farms under the Agriculture Department.
The Minister said the current year would be observed as coconut year, with a range of programmes designed to promote cultivation of the crop and its value addition. Nurseries would be set up to provide high-yielding and dwarf varieties of coconut. Special agricultural zones and processing units would be set up for coconut and disease control measures stepped up, he added.
