Ensure ease of 'doing' agriculture: Kerala governor

THRISSUR: Creating favourable conditions for

ease of 'doing' agriculture

is as important as implementing measures to ensure 'ease of doing business', said governor Justice P Sathasivam on Thursday.

While inaugurating the third edition of Vaiga-Krishi Unnathi Mela, organized jointly by the agriculture department and the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), Sathasivam said the revival of the agriculture sector is critical to the rebuilding of Kerala.

The governor said the recent floods taught us that the farming activities practised in the state must meet the challenges of

climate change

. "Focus should be on sustainable and organic farming. While it is important to increase productivity, it must also be ensured that farming-related activities cause less damage to the environment," he said.

Sathasivam added that the government must enhance investments in agriculture and strengthen research in the sector.

Pointing out that value addition was the need of the hour in agriculture sector, the governor said the state must promote agripreneurship (entrepreneurship in agriculture) and start more agro-based industries.

Sathasivam added that it should be ensured that the farmers are able to sell their agricultural produce at reasonable rates.

Agriculture minister V S Sunil Kumar said the farmers will be given royalty during the tenure of this government itself. He said the government was making systematic efforts to woo the youth to the agriculture sector by providing opportunities to them to start agri-business, and Vaiga is one such initiative.

The minister said agro-park focusing on banana and

honey

at Kannara in Thrissur, the formation of

millet

village at Attappadi, and the constitution of

coconut

development council are some of the positive fall-outs of the previous two editions of Vaiga.

The exhibition organized as part of Vaiga is witnessing heavy flow of visitors. About 500 experts from Kerala and other states as well as from countries like Australia and Indonesia are attending the event.