THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Lauding the ‘Harithalayam’ project of the University of Kerala as a ‘global model’, Agriculture Minister VS Sunil Kumar carried out the online inauguration of the first harvest of paddy crop cultivated as part of the project, here on Tuesday. The varsity had cultivated paddy on an area spread over 15 acres on the Kariyavattom campus. The minister appreciated the efforts of the varsity to do away with eucalyptus and acacia trees and instead convert the campus into productive agricultural land.
“The intervention of the university is timely. It will become a model in bio-diversity for the future. One can now see a green campus that is in perfect balance with nature. It is indeed a matter of pride that a university has become a producer of food too,” the minister said. Sunil Kumar said the government was also planning to convert the project into a seed-generating enterprise.
The harvested ‘Manu Ratna’ paddy crop will be procured by the Kerala Agricultural University and distributed as seeds to farmers across the state. Vice-Chancellor V P Mahadevan Pillai, Pro-Vice-Chancellor P P Ajayakumar and syndicate members K H Babujan, A Ajikumar, B P Murali, were among those present.