Teams consisting of senior officials of Agriculture/allied departments, scientists and students visited farmlands across the Haripad block on Wednesday.
The visit was part of Krishi Darshan, a regional agricultural assessment programme led by Agriculture Minister P. Prasad.
Officials said that teams had visited farms in eight grama panchayats in Haripad block and interacted with farmers. They prepared reports on the problems faced by the farmers. Further, the Agriculture Minister will visit the farmlands of select farmers in Haripad on Friday.
The Agriculture department launched the Krishi Darshan programme last year to understand the problems faced by farmers and suggest solutions. The first Krishi Darshan programme in Alappuzha district was kickstarted at Haripad on Tuesday. As part of the programme, a farm exhibition with 50 stalls is being held on the campus of Government Boys Higher Secondary School, Haripad. It was inaugurated by Ramesh Chennithala, MLA. The expo will conclude on April 29.
Besides field visits and expo, B2B meet, DPR clinic, seminars and cultural programmes are planned as part of Krishi Darshan. On Wednesday, two seminars were held. A seminar on the value-addition of geographical indication-tagged Onattukara sesame was led by Poornima Yadav, Associate Professor, Indian Council of Agricultural Research- Central Plantation Crops Research Institute, Regional Station, Kayamkulam.
Jissy George, chief technical officer, Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Kayamkulam, led another seminar on value-addition and increasing the market value of major crops in the Onattukara region. Farmers who visited Israel as part of the government-backed ‘exposure tour’ shared their experiences and technologies they learned with other farmers at the exhibition venue.
The field visit was flagged off by Haripad block panchayat president Rugmini Raju.
