Minister for Agriculture Mullakkara Ratnakaran has said that 100 panchayats will be declared fallow land-free by December as a result of the steps taken by the State government to promote agriculture.
He was addressing an ‘Ask Your Minister' programme organised by the Kollam Press Club, in association with the Information and Public Relations Department, here on Sunday.
Mr. Ratnakaran said when the Left Democratic Front government came to power in 2006, the agriculture sector had been facing a crisis, with farmers committing suicide. One of the first steps taken by the government to help the farmers was to declare a moratorium on farm loans. Then came the move to write off their loans and the constitution of the Farmers Debt Relief Commission. Slowly, paddy cultivation was able to move from a loss-making venture into a profitable activity.
He said that in 2006, paddy was procurement at Rs.7.5 a kg. This was steadily hiked to touch Rs.12. Kerala offered the highest paddy procurement price to farmers in the whole country. Since 2008, agriculture production and the area under cultivation had increased.
He said that last year, students from 61 schools took up paddy cultivation in fallow fields near their schools. The quantity produced by them might be small but it was a big move towards creating an interest in paddy farming, he said.
Mr. Ratnakaran said the government was very strict about enforcing the Kerala Conservation of Paddy Land and Wetland Act 2008. Under the Act, reclamation of paddy fields was banned. He said that one of the priorities of the government was to increase paddy production in the western sectors of Palakkad district.
He said the government had taken steps to bring the districts of Thrissur, Kollam and Thiruvananthapuram under scientific coconut farming. Under this programme, 1.63 crore diseased or unproductive coconut palms in the three districts would be felled and replaced with high yielding varieties.
Vegetable farming in the State had also made considerable progress in the past four years. Last year, the vegetable production in the State was a little below one lakh tonnes. This year, it would be between 1.5 lakh tonnes and 2 lakh tones, he said. With the cooperation of local bodies, vegetable farming would be taken up on all public land lying idle.
