THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Local Self-Government Department (LSGD) has issued ‘clear-cut’ guidelines to the Haritha Keralam Mission for augmenting the efforts towards the state’s plan to attain self-sufficiency in vegetable production.
The Mission, while promoting agriculture at barren lands, should take up efforts to spread initiatives like kitchen garden with the help of Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme and Kudumbashree workers, say the LSGD guidelines.
“The Haritha Keralam Mission should take up initiatives to ensure at least one grama panchayat in every block panchayats is declared free of barren land. Along with this, initiatives like kitchen gardens and terrace gardens should be promoted on war-footing,” said an officer with LSGD.
It is learnt the LSGD, along with the Agriculture Department, is planning to launch a massive campaign which will cover around 5,000 wards across the state, as part of encouraging individual households to take up farming. Also, with urban areas facing issues like water-scarcity, the respective departments are mulling over promoting methods like drip and wick irrigation.
Another major programme on the anvil in local bodies is promoting open precision farming.
Haritha Keralam Mission executive vice chairperson T N Seema told Express, “The mission is in the process of developing ‘green panchayat’, ‘green city’ and ‘green block’. While the priority is to make the state free of barren land, efforts will also be taken to promote agrarian activities in individual houses.”She said industrial training institutes across the state will take up the activity.