Grow your own organic vegetables in kitchen garden :

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The State government is keen to promote kitchen gardens and terrace gardens among urban residents.— FILE Photo

With a large quantity of vegetables sold in the city suspected to be laced with pesticides and chemicals, the Department of Horticulture has launched a programme to promote kitchen gardens and terrace gardens among households in urban areas.

As part of the comprehensive horticulture development programme taken up by the State government, interested residents will be trained to grow organic vegetables in their households in kitchen gardens or terrace gardens. They will also be provided vegetable seeds, implements, pots, and bio-fertilizer.

The State government is keen to promote kitchen gardens and terrace gardens among urban residents so that they can consume safe vegetables. “A large quantity of vegetables being sold in urban areas are laced with pesticides and chemicals. Many vegetables are sold before the post-harvest interval needed for the effect of chemicals to go away. Many pre-harvest and post-harvest practices are not followed properly, leading to sale of vegetables that are unsafe for consumption,” said C.R. Krishna Kumar, senior assistant director, Department of Horticulture, Mysuru.

Hence, citizens should make use of garden space in their houses or terraces to grow vegetables for their household needs, he said.

After receiving an encouraging response to a training programme last year, the Department of Horticulture is organising one more training programme shortly.

More than 1,000 applications were received last year, but barely 590 could be accommodated.

BOX No. 1

‘70,000 households consume Rs. 5 crore worth coriander and mint every year’

Laiqh A. Khan

Can you guess the amount of money households in Mysuru city spend on coriander and mint, the two staple ingredients used in a variety of cuisines?

Senior Assistant Director of Horticulture, Mysuru, C.R. Krishna Kumar told The Hindu that a study conducted by an NGO in Mysuru during 2012 showed that 70,000 urban households spent a total of Rs. 5 crore on buying coriander and mint every year.

If all the estimated 2 lakh households in Mysuru city is taken into account, they together spend about Rs. 15 crore on herbs alone. “If you take all the vegetables into account, residents of Mysuru City spend around Rs. 200 crore every year,” he said.

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Box No. 2

Submit applications by October 9

Citizens of Mysuru interested in participating in the kitchen garden and terrace garden training programme should obtain the application form from the Department of Horticulture in Curzon Park and submit the filled-up form by October 9.

Applications should be accompanied by a photograph and address proof.

Two hundred and ninety four applicants each will be chosen for the kitchen garden and terrace garden programme separately. As fifty five slots each in both programmes are reserved for Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribes, candidates belonging to these categories should submit their caste certificate along with the application.

The early bird applicants will be chosen for the day-long training programme, whose date is yet to finalised. All the selected participants will be given a free kit containing seeds of vegetables like tomatoes, chillies, ladies finger, cow pea, field beans, etc. While terrace garden participants will be given 15 to 20 pots, a shovel and ten kg of bio fertilizer, kitchen garden participants will receive five kg of bio-fertilizer and sprayer. For more information, call 9986787739.

Source : The Hindu