THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Kerala is all set to take a leaf from Andhra Pradesh in its quest to promote environmentally sustainable farming practices. The AP government had given a big push to zero budget natural farming (ZBNF) promoted by Subhash Palekar. Recently, a high-level team from Kerala, led by Agriculture Minister V S Sunil Kumar, had visited Andhra farms to study the results. Subsequently, the Agriculture Department had decided to experiment with the farming method in Kerala.
Now, the department is planning to invite Palekar to the state as part of encouraging farmers to try out ZBNF. The department is planning to hold a workshop on the system in April which will be attended by Palekar. At the same time, the Agriculture Department is also hoping to ramp up the production of organically-produced vegetables this year. It will establish 150 eco-shops selling organically produced vegetables this year. These shops will sell vegetables cultivated by Good Agricultural Practices (GAP)-tagged farm clusters.