KOCHI: While beginning his stay at Aluva Palace in April — during the commencement of lockdown — the overgrown yard came to the attention of Agriculture Minister V S Sunil Kumar. He immediately called up officials of the Aluva state seed farm, wanting to turn it into a kitchen garden. Cleaning up the unruly growth, they started producing indigenous varieties of vegetables and tubers using endangered traditional practices. Fast forward to December, the minister himself harvested the produce with a wide smile.
“It is the result of hard work. The entire yard was filled with overgrown weeds. Our labourers cleaned up the area. We sowed the seeds on ‘Pathamudayam’, the tenth sunrise after Vishu. As the period is suitable for the cultivation of tuber crops, we focused on items like yam, tapioca, turmeric, ginger and sweet potato along with vegetables,” says Lissymol J Vadakuttu, agriculture officer of the state seed farm.
Interestingly, the minister himself took the initiative to bring the crop varieties from Central Tuber Crops Research Institute, Thiruvananthapuram. “The minister has always been an advocate of the importance of institutional farming. Many government institutions have vast barren lands.
We can easily start institutional cultivation using available natural resources. It will be our best bet for ensuring food security as well,” she said. The eight-month-long nurturing of the crops was also a herculean task for the officials.
“Tubers only require weeding, but vegetables like tomatoes, green chilly, ladies finger and peas need regular care. Two workers from the farm visited the palace every Saturday and nurtured the products throughout the day. A lot of experimentation was done. The compost made by Coir board and traditional manures like ‘panchagavyam’ and ‘kunappajala’ were used in organic farming.
We have used Vesicular Arbuscular Mycorrhizal (VAM) and biocontrol agents for pest and disease control,” said the officer Now, they are looking forward to diversifying their crops. “We have already planted papaya apart from tubers like adathappu (air potato). Instead of selling the produce, the minister has suggested that we sell planting materials like sticks of tapiocas to bring back the traditional methods,” she added.
Mycorrhiza in Tuber farming
State seed farm officials have used Mycorrhiza, an experimental combination developed at the farm in the production of tubers. Myco means ‘fungus’ and rrhiza means ‘root’. It refers to the role of the fungus in the plant’s rhizosphere, or its root system. While planting the crops, the mixing of five gram of Mycorrhiza with soil will result in more yield.