Kerala anticipates a full switch over to organic agriculture by 2016 and micro-level campaigns, starting from panchayat level, are being launched to achieve the target, said Minister for Agriculture K. P. Mohanan here on Sunday.
He was speaking at a press conference where he announced a global agricultural meet, which will be inaugurated here by Union Minister for Agriculture Radha Mohan Singh on November 6. The global agricultural meet will be held along with BIOFACH India 2014.
Mr. Mohanan expressed confidence that target of a fully organic farming State was achievable with grassroots effort. Panchayats and Assembly constituencies which achieve the goals of total organic farming by August next year would be rewarded.
The Minister claimed that the State’s agriculture sector had put up a remarkable show over the past few years, breaking away from negative to more than five per cent annual growth during the last financial year.
A senior official of the Department of Agriculture said that crops like banana and pineapple had helped the State achieve the growth rate. He said that there had been 25 to 30 per cent increase in acreage under pineapple and banana. Vegetables was another area where the State had achieved considerable growth rate. Mr. Mohanan claimed that Kerala was now producing approximately 50 per cent of its vegetable requirements.
