Chittattukara, a coastal panchayat near North Paravur, has set in motion the process to become carbon neutral with the help of the Cochin University of Science and Technology (Cusat) and Kerala Agricultural University as well as other experts in the field. The panchayat will also take the help of a consulting agency, which is yet to be selected.
The plans for the financial year 2022-23 have been finalised in such a way that they jelled with the goal of the panchayat to become carbon neutral within a short period of time, said panchayat president Shantini Gopakumar on Monday.
She said sector-wise plans had been made in an integrated manner to achieve the goal. Spreading the cultivation of the local variety of Pokkali rice, medicinal plants, upland farming, integrated farming and bringing fallow land under cultivation are some of the measures now being undertaken by the panchayat, the president added.
All the eighteen wards of the panchayat will see soil tests separately to determine what type of crops would be the best suited to each of them. Cultivation will be undertaken on the basis of soil test results.
At the same time, all the 10,000 families in the panchayat have now been supplied with vegetable seeds and seedlings so that they are able to produce at least a portion of their food requirements.
The panchayat has also plans to use the fallow land in its area to plant jackfruit trees in abundance to become a village where there would be substantial production of jackfruits in the future. Planting of bamboos and creation of small forested areas are the other initiatives that have now been undertaken.
The panchayat will also help establish biogas plants in all the dairy farms to make sufficient organic manure available for the purpose of cultivation of vegetables in backyards and domestic units.
The panchayat president said one of the major problems was finding a local market for the produce. With the help of Kudumbashree Mission, the panchayat plans to establish marketing facilities for products from the panchayat area.
Protection of water sources, turning one of its most important landmarks, the Komankulam spread over about 1.5 acres, into a lotus-growing reserve, proper treatment of waste and distribution of at least a hundred bicycles to young people in the first phase are some of the other projects being undertaken by the panchayat, she added.
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