Capacity building among farmers for going beyond primary production and selling of their raw produce, is the need of the day, Chief whip and MLA of Ollur constituency, K. Rajan, has said.
He was addressing a five-day intensive training programme on scientific vegetable cultivation, which is being offered to registered farmers by adhering to strict COVID-19 protocol at Communications Centre, Directorate of Extension, Kerala Agricultural University. This is part of the innovative Ollur Krishi Samrudhi program, a chapter of the Subhiksha Keralam programme by the government of Kerala.
The effective utilisation, diversification and value addition in vegetables were our primary aim, Mr. Rajan noted.
In the current scenario, considering the importance of improving the production and marketing of vegetables, the programme envisages a cafeteria of activities covering farm-to-fork stages.
Dr. R. Chandra Babu, Vice Chancellor of KAU, emphasised that by adopting Subhiksha Keralam Programme, it was aimed at extending the quality agriculture practices mainly among small scale farmers, enabling them to be part time entrepreneurs.
The Director of Extension, KAU, Dr. Jiju P Alex; Sunithy Sathyavarma, Assistant Director of Agriculture, Ollur, and Dr. Jayasree Krishnankutty, Prof & Head, Communication Centre spoke.