THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: After being kept away for four decades, horticulture is set to make a comeback in the state’s mainstream agriculture curricula with the Kerala Agricultural University (KAU) deciding to re-induct it as a four-year BSc programme.
Horticulture was last taught in KAU in 1979- 1983. The course was discontinued after an alleged ego clash between two departments. The university has decided to bring it back, thanks to the constant pressure of the alumni of the last horticulture degree batch.
Though the KAU academic council passed a resolution to restart the degree course on March 24, it got delayed due to various reasons. Finally, the university has published the prospectus for the new course.
The horticulture course has been moduled in a cost-sharing mode with a higher fee structure. “We have relaunched the course as other states are starting new courses and colleges related to horticulture,” KAU Vice-Chancellor B Ashok told TNIE.
“We have also started 25 new courses in the university.”
The Achutha Menon ministry started the first College of Horticulture in 1972. According to former students and teachers, a clash of ego between the departments of agriculture and horticulture culminated in the stoppage of courses in horticulture.
“While various state and central governments were initiating and strengthening measures for horticulture revolution, known as Golden Revolution, Kerala lagged,” lamented a former academician.
Though Kerala cultivates horticultural crops in 22 lakh hectares – out of the 26 lakh hectares of agricultural area –and produces more than 25 million tonnes of horticulture per year, the government never bothered to reintroduce horticulture degree courses in KAU and considered it secondary to agriculture.
Contrary to the general perception that the state has a higher field crop area, paddy, 26 species of horticulture crops are being produced from six sectors. They are fruit crops (banana, mango, jackfruit, pineapple and papaya), plantation crops (coconut, rubber, areca nut, cashew, tea and coffee), spice crops (pepper, ginger, cardamom, nutmeg, clove and cinnamon), vegetables (cucurbits, brinjal, okra, chilli, amaranthus and cowpea), floriculture crops (orchids, anthuriums, heliconia), and many medicinal and aromatic plants.
The state has a monopoly in the production of rubber (92%), pepper (81%), cardamom (74%), coconut (40%), coffee (22%), cashew (15%) and tea (8%).
“As the state’s horticulture sector lags due to a lack of focused interventions, a strategic effort is needed,” former KAU registrar P B Pushpalatha said. “When Kerala restricted horticulture as a wing under the Department of Agriculture and limited graduation-level agricultural education to BSc Agriculture, other states behind us set up separate departments of horticulture and colleges of horticulture.”