The Kerala state government is working on a scheme involving the Agriculture, Health, and Local Self-Government Departments to make the state self-sufficient in vegetables in 470 days.
Agriculture Minister V.S. Sunil Kumar said the measures taken to increase vegetable cultivation had started paying dividends and the production had gone up from 600,000 to 1,275,000 tonnes.
The Minister said the government was with the farmers and the crisis being faced by the sector was due to the wrong polices of the Centre. He called for united action to overcome the crisis and seek the support of the Centre.
Sunil Kumar drew the attention of the House to Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s Budget speech that the Centre would support those States that passed three laws in the agriculture sector. The Minister said the Kerala State Farmers Debt Relief Commission had disbursed ₹820 mln to needy farmers.
