A horticulture project of the district administration will set up special agriculture zones in the district to tap the unutilised potential of floriculture, State Planning Board Vice Chairman V.K. Ramachandran has said.
The plan was being taken considering the vast and untapped potential of the district in floriculture, Dr. Ramachandran said, addressing a meeting of senior officials of various departments here on Monday. With the move, a sustainable income source would be made available to the farming community by converging various schemes of the State government, he said.
As part of the project, high-tech floriculture villages would be set up in the many regions of the district that had been identified as suitable for cultivating flowers such as gerbera, orchids, , and jasmine.
On 1,000 acres
“The cultivation will be launched on 1,000 acres of land in the initial phase. High altitude and subtropical climate of the district, presence of small and medium farmers, and a flourishing floral industry in the State, would favour the project,” Dr. Ramachandran said .
Fertigation and collection and marketing of flowers, would be ensured under the project, R. Ramkumar, Planning Board member said. The first phase of the project would be launched in Nenmeni, Ambalavayal, Noolpuzha, Meenangadi, Pulpally, and Mullankolly grama panchayats as well as the Sulthan Bathery municipality, District Collector S. Suhas, who chaired the meeting, said. There would also be a floriculture farm set up in the Priyadarshi tea estate, a tribal rehabilitation project in Wayanad.
The meeting directed Dr. Rajendran, Associate Director of Research of Regional Agriculture Research Station, Ambalavayal, under the Kerala Agricultural University, to chalk out suitable variety of flower plants for the project and supply seedlings for the purpose.
It also directed Principal Agricultural Officer Shajan Thomas to identify land for the purpose, disburse health cards to farmers who are interested in floriculture, and coordinate the project.
