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Strengthen mechanism to provide guidance for agri-preneurs: Guv
−− Governor Arif Mohammad Khan stressed on the need to strengthen the mechanism to provide timely guidance to those who wanted to become established ‘agri-preneurs’ in the state.
Jan. 6, 2020
Governor Arif Mohammad Khan stressed on the need to strengthen the mechanism to provide timely guidance to those who wanted to become established ‘agri-preneurs’ in the state. Speaking after inaugurating the sixth edition of Value Addition for Income Generation in Agriculture (VAIGA) 2020 at Thekkinkadu Maidan on Saturday, Khan pointed out that former non-resident Keralites, who have seen large and modern agro-processing industries in the Gulf and other countries, might be ready to start such ventures in the state.
He also appreciated the efforts taken by the state government in promoting vegetable farming and restoring paddy farming. “Kerala’s agriculture is distinct from the rest of the country in terms of resource endowments, land use and cropping, scale of farming etc. Cash crops dominate farming with 62 per cent of total cropped land.
In addition, drastic reduction in the cultivation of food crops, especially rice, from 1.96 lakh hectares to 1.71 lakh hectares, have been a concern,” he noted. Khan thus asserted the need to keep up the steps taken by the state government in convincing people about the importance of agriculture and the immense potential in value addition of agricultural products.
Addressing concerns over value addition products, Khan said the country had suffered 15 per cent loss of harvest due to the lack of post-harvest facilities in value addition technologies, especially in vegetable and fruit cultivation, in which India is the world’s largest producer. “We need to double our installed capacity for storage so that value addition becomes easier,” he opined.
The theme for VAIGA 2020 is ‘Sustainable Growth Through Agri-preneurship’. Agriculture Minister V S Sunilkumar presided over the ceremony. LSG Minister A C Moideen, Education Minister C Raveendranath, Chief Whip and Ollur MLA K Rajan, Mayor Ajitha Vijayan, district panchayat president Mary Thomas, Additional Chief Secretary Devandra Kumar Singh among others were present. Over 300 stalls of various agricultural organisations, government departments, farm producers’ companies etc, have been set up in the expo that will conclude on January 7.
Source: The New Indian Express
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