THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: In an effort worth emulating, the Nemom Assembly constituency is all set to take a big step towards self-sufficiency in food production after the Agriculture Department chalked out plans for the same.
A highlight of the project is to identify the barren lands in the constituency and to initiate agrarian activities there, the other major programme that will be undertaken is paddy cultivation in ‘padasekharam’ or cluster of lands.
“The project to make Nemom Assembly constituency self-sufficient in agriculture has been listed under the department’s programme for the 2018-19 financial year. The said programmes will act as a continuation of those undertaken during 2016-17 and 2017-18 financial years,” said an officer with the Nemom Krishi Bhavan.
According to the officer, to set the very project in motion, the department has not only identified the barren lands in the constituency that is fit for agrarian activities but also selected three padasekharams where paddy cultivation will be taken up.
“There are around 31 hectares of barren land in the constituency that is cultivable. Of this, one hectare of land comes under the Thiruvallam Krishi Bhavan and the remaining 30 hectares comes under the Nemom Krishi Bhavan. Besides, paddy cultivation will be undertaken at Melamkode Mangilikari padasekharam, Nilamakari padasekharam and Kolikode padasekharam,” adds the officer.
In the first phase, three hectares of barren land will be made fit for agriculture and it will then be followed by cultivation at 12 hectares of land.According to the department, the Assistant Executive Engineer (Agriculture) has been asked to undertake a survey and prepare the estimates for the same.
The department had earlier launched various initiatives including Kera Samrudhi for coconut cultivation, organic vegetable cultivation, spices cultivation and others during 2016-17, 2017-18 financial years for boosting up the agrarian activities in the constituency.