The Kerala Agricultural University will adopt villages and provide the farmers technical support as part of the Subhiksha Keralam Mission, the flagship initiative of the government of Kerala to accomplish food security.
Minister for Local Self Governments A.C. Moideen inaugurated KAU’s initiative to adopt villages, at Thekkumkara panchayat on Saturday as part of a series of extension programmes for providing technical support to local bodies. He also inaugurated paddy cultivation by the Thekkumkara grama panchayat and Department of Agriculture supported by the KAU on a piece of land that was lying fallow for 11 years.
Another initiative of the KAU to establish a seed village for producing quality seed materials of tuber crops was inaugurated by Mary Thomas, District Panchayat President.
The Minister observed that the Subhiksha Keralam Mission had evoked enthusiasm among the people.
He said that the programme, aimed at the comprehensive development of the productive sectors by enhancing the productivity of agricultural crops, meat, milk, poultry, and fish, envisaged joint action by various departments, local self government institutions, and co-operative institutions.
The programme had components to institute procurement, processing, value-addition, and marketing by involving different institutions. The guidelines for project formulation by local bodies and subsidies had been revised according to the priorities of Subhiksha Keralam. The Minister urged the scientific community to connect with farmers.
Explaining the initiative by the KAU devised jointly with the grama panchayat and the Department of Agriculture, Vice Chancellor Chandrababu said a multi-disciplinary team of scientists would be deployed to support the fallow land cultivation and the seed village programme.
“A six-acre plot selected for fallow land cultivation will be a Farmer Field School to facilitate training of farmers in sustainable practices of rice production through experiential learning. A scientific production protocol based on soil test results and other parameters will be followed for paddy cultivation. Seed village programme will be able to provide farmers with quality seed materials of tubers in sufficient quantities by the next season. High-yielding varieties of tubers developed by KAU and CTCRI (Central Tuber Crops Research Institute) will be demonstrated for wider adoption among farmers.
Anil Akkara, MLA, presided over the function. Thekkumkara panchayat president Sreeja V.P. and vice president Sunil Kumar, Dr. Jiju P. Alex, Director of Extension, KAU, and Sujith P.G., Agriculture Officer, spoke.