Kerala will push organic farming in a big way: Agriculture Minister

Kerala was going to push organic farming in a big way as excessive pesticide residues were found in 58 out of the 1,262 food items which were tested in the government labs across the State, including the ones at Vellayani College of Agriculture and Mannuthy Agricultural University, Agriculture Minister T. Siddique, said.

Talking to reporters here on Monday, Mr. Siddique said that the fact that people were taking back toxins-laded vegetables home has firmed the government’s resolve that Kerala has to go back to organic farming and that every homestead had to turn their own homes into small farming units.

Kathir in schools

The government was launching an organic farming initiative, Kathir, in 500 schools this year, which was intended to encourage students to take to farming. He said that the scheme had been well-mapped out and that there will be a nodal officer, a back-up committee, training for children to do farming in the scientific manner as well as a marketing channel to ensure that the scheme is run smoothly.

Every school will be given ₹10,000 under the scheme to promote organic farming. Next year, all government schools in the State will have Kathir clubs, Mr. Siddique said. He added that the government intended to incentivise organic farming among school students and that it was considering giving academic weightage to students for Kathir club activities. The Education department was very positive about this initiative, he said.

Mr. Siddique added that through Vegetable and Fruits Promotion Council of Kerala (VFPCK) and Horticorp, the government was planning to open 2,000 vegetable markets for Onam, as part of market intervention. An amount of ₹10.5 crore had been set aside exclusively for this purpose, he said.