A scheme aimed at ushering in good agricultural practices in paddy farming is to be launched in Kuttanad soon. The project, with an outlay of Rs.12.55 crore, will be implemented over the next five years.
One of the initial components of the programme is the setting up of a community radio service for farmers in the area. The FM radio station will broadcast farm-oriented programmes from a station to be established at Moncombu.
The project is being brought in as part of the Haritha Keralam initiative of the State government, Principal Agricultural Officer A.G. Abdul Kareem told The Hindu .
The Kuttanad scheme envisages promotion of indigenous and innovative techniques such as use of transplanting machinery, seed drums, and in-situ composting of weeds and crop residue.
Pest surveillance will be fully automated using field-level uploading of data and analysis employing android-based mobile applications, said Mathew Abraham, Agricultural Officer at the Kerala Centre of Pest Management, Moncombu. He, along with Mr. Kareem, had conceptualised the Kuttanad plan. The project was drawn after monitoring the ground realities for several years, he said.
“We are in touch with about 2,000 people engaged in farming in about 45,000 hectares in Kuttanad, comprising Alappuzha and parts of Kottayam and Pathanamthitta districts. Though the spraying of pesticides has been declining, there has been an increase in the use of weedicides, apparently due to scarcity of labour,” he said.
The good agricultural practices to be introduced will include preparation of a codex for rice cultivation, bringing up master trainers among farmers and agricultural officers, nomination of geographical indication registry for Kuttanad rice, and Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) certification for the farm produce. Management programme and crop scheduling for control of endemic pests such as brown plant hopper and black bug and weeds will be part of the programme.
Establishment of automatic weather stations in each panchayat for location-specific forecast, solar-powered automatic light traps for pests, and development of forecasting prototype for major pests and diseases will be among other components of the programme. Sensor-mounted drones will be deployed to monitor plant health periodically.
Financial assistance for operations such as additional ploughing and land-levelling will be provided in the initial years.
The project will be implemented over
the next five years
at an outlay of Rs.12.55 crore
