Good news for vegetable farmers in the State. Availability of grafted vegetable seedlings will be substantially increased as grafting technology, hitherto restricted to a few Kerala Agriculture University scientists, has been passed on to field officers of the VFPCK (Vegetable and Fruit promotion Council Keralam) and VHSE (Vocational Higher Secondary Education) teachers.
The KAU has started its training programme on vegetable transplant production and grafting. The objective is to increase vegetable production.
KAU Vice Chancellor P. Rajendran stressed the importance of quality of planting materials in qualitative and quantitative enhancement in vegetable production.
“Having progressed from the use of seed to seedlings and other planting materials, grafted vegetable seedlings is the best and the most important step we have taken in technology development. The technology developed by KAU scientist Narayanan Kutty is simple but efficient and a breakthrough in the development of wilt-resistant grafts of commonly-cultivated and popular vegetables. Immunity to bacterial wilt means a significant enhancement in vegetable production. The technology of combining the yield of hybrids and wilt resistance of selected varieties has become a blessing for the farmers and a vital step towards self-sufficiency in vegetable production,” he said.
He felt highly optimistic on the popularisation of grafting technology through VFPCK officers from all districts and VHSE teachers.
Resistant to wilt, drought
“Once this becomes popular, each household will have vegetable plants resistant to wilt and drought, enhancing the quality and quantity of production, leading to a welcome change in the current scenario where we spend substantial sum on procuring vegetables from across the border. Safe-to-eat food and nutritional security will become a reality,” he said.
P.B. Pushpalatha, Director of Extension, appreciated the move to train VFPCK field officers and VHSE teachers in grafting technology and said more cohesive collaboration between the KAU, the technology provider, and line departments and PSUs in the field would help effective popularisation of technologies.
Technology, restricted to a few KAU scientists, passed on to field officers and VHSE teachers
