The crisis in the farm sector was what led to climate change and water scarcity in the State, Agriculture Minister V.S. Sunilkumar has said.
The Minister was inaugurating a comprehensive vegetable farming programme and block-level eco shop at Ranni on Tuesday.
According to him, paddy farming in the State was 13 lakh ha in 1963 and this has been reduced to mere 2 lakh ha by 2015. The fate of pepper cultivation too was not much different, he said.
Mr. Sunilkumar said Kerala which was once deemed as the land of coconuts now stood third in coconut production, after Tamil Nadu and Karnataka.
The Minister said the State has been following a wrong water utilisation plan. When other States launch projects for water conservation, the State has been wasting the water by letting it flow freely, he said.
He said the government would step up paddy production from five lakh metric tonne to eight to 10 lakh metric tonne and project for extending paddy cultivation to three lakh ha would be launched as part of the programme.
Mr. Sunilkumar said the government would extend vegetable cultivation to 50,000 ha with a view to deliver the State from the pesticide menace.
He said a comprehensive plan would be launched to make the entire fallow land arable in a time-bound manner.
Farmers’ Day
Mr. Sunilkumar said the Malayalam New Year day of Chingom 1 would be observed as Farmers’ Day at all schools in the State so as to make the younger generation too a part of the State’s farming culture.
Raju Abraham, MLA, presided over the function. Anto Antony, MP, delivered the keynote address. Chittayam Gopakumar, MLA; Annapoornadevi, District Panchayat president, and George Mamen Kondoor, vice-president, also spoke.
The Minister also inaugurated an Agro-machinery Bank of the Pannivizha Service Cooperative Bank near Adoor.
Chittayam Gopakumar, MLA, presided over the function. A.P.Jayan, CPI district secretary, also spoke.
