The government is preparing to establish the Kerala Institute of Plant Health Management on the lines of the national institute at Hyderabad, Agriculture Minister V.S. Sunil Kumar said here on Tuesday.
The Minister said the institute would be set up by upgrading the Kerala Centre for Pest Management at Mancombu, Alappuzha.
Convocation
He was inaugurating the convocation ceremony of the postgraduate diploma course in plant health management for officials in the Agriculture Department.
The course is jointly conducted by the department and the National Institute of Plant Health Management, Hyderabad.
Mr. Kumar said the services of plant health experts in the department had helped the State to cut down on the use of chemical fertilizers over the last three years.
They had also introduced the concept of environmental engineering and ecosystem analysis in agriculture and popularised good agricultural practices, organic farming and manufacture of eco-friendly production tools.
Agro-ecological zones
The Minister said moves were on to delineate farmlands into agro-ecological zones and come up with appropriate crop management strategies.
Agricultural Production Commissioner Devendrakumar Singh, Agriculture Secretary Ratan Kelkar and Director General, NIPHM, Jayalakshmi were present.
