THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Agriculture Minister P Prasad has urged the Centre to include Kerala in the Horticulture Cluster Development Programme. In his letter to Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar, Prasad cited the state’s opportunities in the sector.
The cluster programme aims at comprehensive development of the horticulture sector eyeing the global market. The minister’s letter is in the wake of the Centre’s announcement that the programme will be implemented at selected locations in Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Tripura, Maharashtra, Karnataka and Meghalaya. The letter seeks to include plantain, pineapple, pepper, and cardamom from Kerala.
Horticulture crops have an important role in Kerala’s economy, the minister said. The state’s horticulture sector is robust with the cultivation of crops like plantain, jackfruit, pineapple, pepper and spices. Kerala exports plantain to foreign countries. The Kerala brand plantain is exported under the sea shipment protocol. Pineapple too has attained global attraction, the letter pointed out.