Latest news with #VegetableandFruitPromotionCouncilKeralam
Time of India
22-05-2025
- Politics
- Time of India
Kerala's farm success under study by Supreme Court panel
1 2 3 Chandigarh: In a significant step towards agricultural transformation, the High-Powered Committee on Agrarian Reforms covened a meeting on Thursday to study and deliberate on the best practices adopted by the Kerala govt for making agriculture a sustainable and profitable enterprise. The high-powered committee, chaired by former judge of the Punjab and Haryana high court justice Nawab Singh, was constituted by a bench of the Supreme Court of India to recommend comprehensive reforms in the agrarian sector with the aim of improving farmers' welfare. Kerala agriculture minister S P Prasad elaborated on Kerala's strategic approach towards agrarian welfare. He highlighted landmark initiatives, including Vegetable and Fruit Promotion Council Keralam (VFPCK) support programmes, paddy procurement policies ensuring MSP for farmers, Kerala State Farmers Debt Relief Commission – providing relief to debt-burdened farmers, State Crop Insurance Scheme tailored to local conditions, natural calamity relief mechanisms, Karshaka Pension Scheme to provide social security to aged farmers, and promotion of organic and natural farming. The officers of the Kerala agriculture department delivered a comprehensive presentation outlining these and other pioneering efforts that have transformed Kerala's agricultural landscape. The discussions centred around key issues such as increasing farmers' income, reducing agrarian distress, and ensuring the long-term sustainability of agriculture. The Kerala delegation shared valuable insights into the initiatives that have positively impacted the farming community in their state. The meeting was attended by prominent members of the committee and dignitaries, including Raja Shekhar Vundru, additional chief secretary, agriculture and farmers welfare department, Haryana; Devinder Sharma, noted agriculture scientist; Sukhpal Singh, chairman of the Punjab State Farmers & Farm Workers Commission; Prof Ranjit Singh Ghuman, Professor of Eminence at Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar; Sriram Venkataraman, director, department of agriculture, govt of Kerala; Swaran Singh Boparai, former vice-chancellor of Punjabi University, Patiala; Col J SGill and Vikash Kumar, professor at CRRID. MSID:: 121343062 413 |
Time of India
21-04-2025
- Business
- Time of India
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. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Google Brain Co-Founder Andrew Ng, Recommends: Read These 5 Books And Turn Your Life Around Blinkist: Andrew Ng's Reading List Undo 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.
