Kerala govt plans to set up agri hypermarkets in all districts
Kochi: Agriculture minister P Prasad announced that agri hypermarkets will be gradually established in all districts of Kerala under the leadership of Vegetable and Fruit Promotion Council Keralam. He mentioned that plans are being considered to initiate such projects with the cooperation of local self-govt bodies and other public representatives at constituency and block levels. The minister was speaking during the inauguration of Thalir Agri Hypermarket in Kakkanad, completed under the leadership of VFPCK, on Monday.
Prasad also inaugurated a tissue culture lab capable of producing one million tissue-cultured banana saplings annually and Maithri Training and Information Centre built to provide training to farmers.
There will be special counters set up at the outlet for sale of locally collected fruits and vegetables, organic production inputs, quality planting materials, organic products, ornamental plants and value-added products. The outlet aims to provide healthy local fruit and vegetable produce to the public and quality planting materials/production inputs to farmers and others, thereby promoting agriculture and ensuring food security.
Tissue culture lab was completed to address the shortage of quality planting materials to some extent. Tissue-cultured saplings of Nendran, Grand Naine and Njalipoovan will be available. Tissue-cultured saplings of pineapple and ornamental plants will also be available.
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Maithri centre was completed at a cost of Rs 2 crore with the support of Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana. It is equipped with three training halls, a dining hall and other facilities. Ground floor can accommodate training for 50 people and two training halls on first floor can accommodate 200 people. The centre is prepared to organize 100 training sessions annually.
The minister said if health is prioritized, producing pesticide-free food is of utmost importance. "There should be a branded outlet to market and make available pesticide-free products at better prices. It is from this idea that state govt has initiated the branded outlet for fruits and vegetables," he said.
"Govt will undertake all necessary interventions to protect Pokkali farming. A major project worth Rs10 crore has been prepared for this," Prasad said, adding that assistance from central govt will be sought for the implementation of the project.
"A team of doctors from Regional Cancer Centre will be sent to Solan in Himachal Pradesh next month for training in mushroom cultivation and to study the potential of mushrooms in cancer prevention. It is essential to manufacture and market diverse mushroom products locally. Need of the hour is smart farming methods that can produce more yield in less space, and such methods should enable production of pesticide-free crops," the minister added.
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