PALAKKAD: Farmers in the district, despite lack of training in technologies like fertigation which helps limit use of fertilizers and harmful fertilizers, are giving a big push to cultivation of safe-to-eat vegetables through use of bio-control agents and organic manure.
The story of Vegetable and Fruit Export Promotion Council Elavancherry Swashraya Karshaka Samithi - a grouping of farmers with 200 members - is a case in point. The group which cultivates 320 acres of land has already clocked a turnover of `5.05 crore according to its president R Padmanabhan.
“We have successfully used bio-control agents like Trichoderma, Beaveria bassiana, Verticillium and Lakhani. Agents like Trichogramma kill the insects at the pupa stage itself,” said Padmanabhan. Bio-control agents are used up to flowering stage and this has proved to be a success. The samithi uses around 20 tonnes of organic manure in one acre of land. “The rest we use chemical fertilisers,” he said. But many farmers still lack the skills, technology and training to judiciously combine bio-control agents along with pesticides.
Minister for Agriculture K P Mohanan said the government is unable to curb the transportation of vegetables with high pesticide residues because Kerala is still a deficit state.
The Chief Executive of the VFPCK S Sivaprasad said the state is now promoting ‘safe-to-eat’ vegetables. “We plan to set up two new bio-control agent laboratories in the state. While one will be located in Elavancherry in Palakkad district, the other will be set up either in Kozhikode or Alappuzha.’’
Several strains of Trichoderma, Pseudomonas and Trichogramma have been developed as bio-control agents against fungal diseases by KAU at Mannuthy and colleges of Agriculture at Vellayani in T’Puram and Padannakkad in Kasargod.
Sivaprasad said that there was no use in promoting the use of bio-control agents if there was no sufficient supply of them to the farmers.
“It is a myth that the use of hybrid seeds mandates the use chemical fertilizers and pesticides. Bio-control agents and neem-based repellents are effective though it may be a little costlier,” Sivaprasad said. The VFPCK has distributed enough hybrid seeds for farmers to cultivate 1250 hectares. Beena Mathew, district manager, VFPCK, said that the farmers in Palakkad cultivated crops which are conducive to our climate like bitter gourd, cow pea, ash gourd, pumpkin, chilli, ladies finger and tomatoes. “All small holdings use organic manure as the base. Moreover, in chemical fertilizers we promote only the less concentrated ones like blue or green and not the red triangle packs,” she said.