Agriculture Minister V.S. Sunil Kumar will open the Farmers Training Centre (FTC) under the Department of Agriculture at the Urban Wholesale Agricultural Market at Vengeri here on Friday.
The facilities at the air-conditioned FTC include a seminar hall, mini conference hall, demonstration room and laboratories, separate dormitories for women and men, kitchen, and dining halls.
Farmers coming from far-off places to attend training programmes used to face difficulties in finding accommodation at the existing cramped building. Now, the issue will be addressed.
The FTC meant for the benefit of farmers in north Kerala should have been completed by August 31, 2014. But multiple issues, including delay on the part of the Thrissur-based Centre of Science and Technology for Rural Development (COSTFORD), left the 10-year-old project in limbo.
The proposal has been to build a satellite centre of the State Agriculture Management Extension Training Institute (SAMETI) with modern facilities for training farmers in Kozhikode and Wayanad districts.
At the time of the agreement in 2012, the cost of the project was estimated at ₹96.6 lakh.
Crop clinic
According to officials, the Minister will also inaugurate a parasite breeding centre and a clinic for conservation of crops at the Vengeri market.
M.K. Raghavan, MP, will inaugurate the Kissan Meal, and Mayor Thottathil Raveendran and District Panchayat President Babu Parassery will inaugurate the distribution of equipment for farmers under various schemes on the occasion.