Jeevani, a programme launched early this year envisaging intensive vegetable cultivation, is expected to gather steam in the district following a call to people by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan to utilise their time during the lockdown period by engaging in farming activities to ensure food availability.
A senior official of the Agriculture Department said on Monday that 3.5 lakh packets of vegetable seeds were ready for sale in Ernakulam. Distribution of seed packets was already under way and it should be in full flow within a couple of days, the official said.
Seed packets were being distributed through agricultural offices attached to panchayat, municipality and corporation offices, said the official. He said that NGOs and residents’ associations too were being roped in for the distribution of seeds.
The distribution of seed packets has been brought under Jeevani. Under the scheme, around 17 lakh seedlings were distributed across the district. Vegetables cultivated from January are now ready for harvest.
Kudumbashree groups
Meanwhile, Kudumbashree district mission is going ahead with the expansion of cultivation of vegetables and fruits under joint liability groups.
According to an official of the mission, there are around 6,000 joint liability groups of women farmers who are engaged in cultivation of vegetables on nearly 400 hectares; bananas, mostly the nendran variety, on 1,481 hectares; tuber crops on 627 hectares; and paddy on 552 hectares.
Harvest from fields operated by Kudumbashree groups has also been sourced partly for running community kitchens set up following the lockdown. The Kudumbashree official said that most of the produce from the fields were being supplied for free to community kitchens.
