Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Ernakulam, attached to Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute and the Ernakulam district unit of the Kudumbasree Mission have joined hands to produce organic agricultural inputs such as manure and growbag mixture.
A Joint Liability Group, the Kudumbasree Mission and the KVK have entered into a pact for the project, which has financial backing from a corporate entity under its corporate social responsibility initiative.
A scientist said the KVK would provide technical support for the programme and Kudumbasree would pitch in with a portion of the money required for the project and provide organisational support. Products from the venture will be sold under the Kudumbasree brand.
An official of the Kudumbashree Mission said that orientation training for a group in Mazhuvannoor panchayat had been completed and production training would begin in early October.
The KVK wanted to leverage the reach and acceptability of Kudumbasree in the district to make organic farming inputs widely available, said the scientist. Though the KVK produced organic inputs, its market reach was limited, he added. With the movement for organic production of vegetables and fruits gaining momentum, one of the key drawbacks has been the lack of availability of quality inputs such as organic fertilisers, pesticides and bio-controls.
The KVK will ensure that products from the Mazhuvannoor unit are of the required quality. Spurious products posed a threat to the entire movement towards organic agriculture as people, especially those taking up farming activities for the first time, would be disappointed with the results. It might force them to abandon such activities, said the KVK scientist.
Products from the Mazhuvannoor venture will include neem oil and cake, growbag mixture, amino fishmeal and dolomite.
Source : The Hindu
No comments:
Post a Comment