KOCHI: With rows of long beans climbing trellises, okra plants flowering and cucumber vines spreading across his three-acre farm in Kalady, Binumon K G is racing against time for the Onam harvest. If the weather holds, the award-winning farmer’s fields will supply long beans, naadan beans, ladies’ finger and cucumbers to festival markets, while elephant foot yam, banana and tapioca add to the farm’s diversity.
But this season, according to Binumon, pests or excessive rain —or the lack of it — didn’t present the biggest challenge. It came much before sowing — in the form of seed packets. “Cucumber seeds that cost `610 for a 25-gram packet last year are now `800. Even a one-gram packet costs around `30,” he said. Worse still, he added, the quality of cucumber seeds available in the market has deteriorated sharply this year, affecting germination and crop establishment.
Like many commercial vegetable growers, Binumon bought his seeds from a local outlet in Kalady, although a government-recognised seed store also functions in Okkal on the Kalady-Perumbavoor road. Despite the challenges, he remains optimistic that his farm will produce enough vegetables for Onam markets.
His experience mirrors a larger crisis confronting Kerala’s vegetable sector.
Every Onam season, traditional feasts push the demand for fresh vegetables. Farmers begin planting months in advance to cash in on the season. Yet, even as cultivation expands, Kerala continues to struggle with one of the most basic requirements of farming: quality seeds.
According to the latest estimates, Kerala produces around 19 lakh tonnes of vegetables annually. But with an average daily consumption of 300 grams per person, the state’s annual requirement works out to nearly 36.7 lakh tonnes, which translates to barely half the demand.
In his essay compiled for the recently published book ‘Karshika Keralam Pinnitta Aaru Pathittandukal’, former Kerala Agricultural University (KAU) professor Dr Pradeep Kumar T said the state still has a long way to go to achieve vegetable self-reliance.
He noted that bitter gourd and long beans remain Kerala’s most widely cultivated vegetable crops, while demand for hybrid seeds continues to rise. Kerala requires around 120,000kg of vegetable seeds, with hybrid-seed demand alone touching 15 tonnes the previous year. Hybrid varieties dominate crops such as bitter gourd, watermelon, okra and green chilli.
Yet seed availability remains grossly inadequate.
The state’s requirement of vegetable seeds across 15 crops, including cheera (leafy greens/spinach), okra, tomato, brinjal, cucumber, green chilli, and bitter gourd is estimated at 1,09,641kg for over 38,000 hectares of cultivation. The demand for other vegetable seeds makes up another 10,000kg. However, the state generates only about 20% of the actual seed requirement (24,000kg), highlighting dependence on private suppliers and seeds sourced from outside the state.
Pradeep pointed out that many commercial vegetable farmers fail to realise even half the potential yield because of poor access to quality hybrid seeds, inadequate adoption of precision farming and ineffective pest management.
The irony is striking. Kerala built its seed infrastructure decades ago.
According to M M Abbas, director of the Organic Kerala Charitable Trust, the state had established 31 state seed farms nearly 65 years ago. Today, the number has risen only marginally to 35 farms, spread over nearly 690 acres. He says Kerala’s chemical-free vegetable campaign launched in 2013 significantly boosted production from 6.4 lakh tonnes to around 17.5 lakh tonnes, demonstrating that farmers are willing to cultivate vegetables if the right ecosystem exists.
“The weakest link today is seeds,” Abbas says.
While KAU produces breeder seeds, he argues that the state lacks a comprehensive seed-production plan. He proposed a three-tier strategy with KAU producing breeder seeds, seed farms multiplying them into foundation seeds; and certified seed growers producing and distributing quality seeds across the state. The objective, Abbas said, should be to produce 20% of Kerala’s seed requirement every year for the next five years, steadily reducing dependence on outside markets.
The economics, he argued, is equally compelling. Farmers currently pay heavily for expensive hybrid seeds every season. If certified, high-quality seeds can be supplied at a fraction of today’s prices while maintaining high germination rates, both commercial farmers and millions of homestead growers stand to benefit.
As Onam approaches, Binumon’s fields remain a picture of promise. But beyond the lush green rows lies a reminder that the state’s vegetable future may depend less on how well farmers cultivate their crops than on whether they can first get their hands on quality seeds.