ARECANUT FARMERS ( RS.10 CRORE FOR FARMERS WELFARE)

ARECANUT FARMERS

Rs.10 crore for areca nut farmers' welfare

    Agriculture Minister K.P. Mohanan said  on Monday,13^TH June,2011, that the government would earmark Rs.10 crore for the welfare of areca growers in the kasargod district. The amount would be earmarked in the budget session of the State Assembly, scheduled to be held later this month, Mr. Mohanan said after inaugurating a district-level seminar on Organic Farming at the Municipal conference hall. The Minister's statement came after Kasaragod MLA N.A. Nellikkunnu drew the former's attention to the plight of cash-strapped areca growers in the district.

   The Minister said the labour crisis in the farming community could be solved if the services of labourers under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) were diverted to the farming sector. The government was planning to bring in a law to utilise the services of MGNREGS labourers to promote organic farming to free the land from chemical fertilizers and pesticides that had adversely affected the rich bio-diversity in the State, he said. Steps would be initiated to distribute agriculture implements and machineries through the Agro Industries Corporation, he said. Mr. Mohanan suggested the need to give thrust to encouraging organic farming by engaging consistent interactions to share and tap the rich experience of traditional farmers

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                                                                         Prof. John Kurakar