Karshika Punarjani launched to revive farming in flood-hit areas

KOCHI: The Karshika Punarjani scheme aimed at restarting cultivation in flood-affected areas was kick-started in Puthenvelikara on Tuesday by Agriculture Minister V S Sunil Kumar. The programme was jointly organised by the Agriculture Department and the local panchayat.

Puthenvelikara is one of the panchayats that suffered huge losses in the agriculture sector. Besides vegetable and paddy, the farmers in the panchayat lost nutmeg, plantain and arecanut plantations in the flood. The Agriculture Department has come up with the Karshika Punarjani scheme in an attempt to reclaim the lost crops.

The department aims to replant the vegetable fields and distribute new banana saplings to farmers besides helping them in planting the crop. Activities such as applying lime to nutmeg trees that have been partially damaged and spraying them with pesticides will also be carried out.

There are 30 agricultural fields in Puthenvelikara. The minister launched the scheme by applying organic manure to nutmeg trees in the plantation of Thomaskutty of Kaimathuruth in Stationkadavu. Activities to replenish soil fertility too will be carried out as part of the scheme.