Kerala government has drawn up an ambitious programme to introduce 'Green Cards' for state farmers on the model of the Centre's Kisan Cards to support farming community suffering from crop loss and financial crunch.
The proposed 'Green Cards' will help farmers avail interest-free and low-interest loans.
Under the initiative, the first set of cards would be distributed among winter vegetables farmers in Kanthalloor and Vattavada panchayats in Idukki district soon, Minister for Agriculture V S Sunil Kumar said here today.
The 'Green Card' project is planned to be implemented with the support of the Kerala Gramin Bank, one of the largest rural bank network in the country.
"The government is planning to introduce Green Cards for farmers. The project is envisaged to give away loan from Rs 15,000 to Rs 3,00,000 to the card holding farmers," he told reporters in a press meet here.
"The project will be implemented on a pilot basis in the Kanthalloor-Vattavada region in Idukki district. It will be extended to other regions across the state later," he said. The government has also plans to take the Kanthalloor-Vattavada region, a hub of winter vegetable cultivation in the state, and introduce special programmes to market the agriculture produces from there, he said. To bring more land under cultivation, grandis trees, widely being cultivated in the region, would be uprooted and talks were already on with the revenue department in this regard, he said.
The Agriculture Department would join hands with the Rubber Board as part of an innovative programme to enhance the production of organic vegetables in the state, Kumar said. "We are planning to cultivate organic vegetables and banana in rubber plantations as interim crops. We have already held talks with the Rubber Board in this regard.
The programme will be implemented with the support of over 900 rubber producers societies," he said.
With this, the cultivation of organic vegetable could be extended to additional 50,000 hectares, he said.
The minister also cautioned against the use of banned pesticides in the state farms.
"Strict action will be taken against the use of banned pesticides. Frequent raids will be conducted in its sales outlets. Last year, 1200 metric ton pesticides had arrived in the state," he said.
As many as Rs 13,500 would be given as compensation per acre for farmers who suffer crop loss due to drought, he said.
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