The second edition of the National Agri-Fete that concluded at Mananthavady on Saturday urged the government to introduce a special budget, similar to the Railway budget, exclusively for the agriculture sector in the State.
In a proposal passed by the farmers at ‘Mikavu,’ an interactive session of farmers from the district held in connection with the eight-day fete, said that farmers faced many problems and all of them could not be addressed in the State budget. Hence, the Agriculture Minister should present a budget exclusively for the agriculture sector.
The session demanded complete mechanisation in agriculture and allied sectors, and rejuvenation of the sector to attract more youths to it. An agrarian district like Wayanad was facing challenges such as dearth of skilled labour, especially during harvesting season.
A full-fledged training centre was sought in agriculture and dairy sectors in the district to impart modern skills to farmers in value addition, branding, packing and exporting of agriculture and dairy products.
A special package to promote organic cultivation and irrigation projects to utilise water in the Kabani river were among the demands.
The participants alleged attempts to relocate development projects meant for the headquarters of the Kerala Veterinary and Animal Sciences University (KVASU) at Pookode to other campuses of the university. They demanded intervention by the government to stop the move.
Youth Affairs Minister P.K. Jayalakshmi inaugurated the session and the Minister honoured 350 selected farmers in the district on that occasion.
The organisers said that close to 1.5 lakh people visited the festival organised by the Agriculture Department.
