KOCHI: The agriculture festival at Kalamassery, held as part of the ‘Krishikkoppam Kalamassery’ campaign, was a major success with overwhelming participation from the people. One of the biggest takeaways of this six-day-long festival, spearheaded by Minister P Rajeeve, was that many people are willing to embrace locally-produced vegetables.
“With the participation of people, the festival has become a great success,” the minister said, adding that “the outcome of the seminar and the workshop will be discussed with the agriculture minister for follow-up action.”
Rajeeve said the project was aimed at making Kalamassery fallow land-free. “Quality seeds and seedlings will be made available to the farmers. The procurement system will be implemented properly. Marketing of value-added products will be encouraged. Along with agriculture, a comprehensive development of Kalamassery is also on the agenda.
The model will be expanded further with the support of public participation, the minister added. For this purpose, farmers’ associations will continue to be organised every month. The agriculture festival boasted 62 stalls of locally grown and value-added products. It also witnessed cultural pageants, food festivals, seminars, workshops, agriculture meetings, and other programmes. More than 100 residence associations participated in the meeting. The festival concluded on Sunday.
Mushroom, coconut villages to be set up
Kochi: Kalamassery has been selected for establishing mushroom and coconut villages, and an agro-processing park, said Agriculture Minister P Prasad. He was speaking after inaugurating the concluding session of Krishikkoppam Kalamassery on Sunday. As per the plan, the local bodies will set up the mushroom and coconut villages to provide opportunities for better market and value-addition entrepreneurship. Prasad said the state government will continue to send farmers abroad to help them learn about the agricultural practices in developed countries. Speaking on the occasion, Minister P Rajeeve said about 1,000 acres of barren land was revived for farming under ‘Krishikkoppam Kalamassery’ initiative. He said the foundation stone for India’s largest agro-processing park will be laid in Kalamassery next month.