The Hindu : Kerala / Kochi News : Aid for floriculturists in Kothamangalam

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Oct 18, 2004

Kerala

Kerala - Kochi

Aid for floriculturists in Kothamangalam

By Our Staff Reporter

KOCHI, OCT. 17. The women floriculturists of Kothamangalam Block will receive a boost from the new State Government-aided scheme for promotion of cultivating and marketing flowers through `floriclubs'.

About 180 women in the Kothamangalam Block Panchayat area will receive assistance for cultivating bush jasmine as part of the District Floriculture Scheme. The scheme was flagged off at the district agricultural seminar organised by the Department of Agriculture at St. George Cathedral Auditorium in Kothamangalam on Friday.

The agricultural seminar, conducted jointly by the Agriculture Department, Kerala Agriculture University (KAU) and the Coconut Development Board (CDB), was inaugurated by V.J. Paulose, MLA. Mr. Paulose stressed the need to provide farmers with a more efficient support system.

Planting material

The Kothamangalam Block Panchayat president, Babu Paul, who inaugurated the scheme and the distribution of planting materials, pointed out that the farmer community as such lacked organisational strength to protect their interests. Even though the suicide of the engineering college student, Rajani, had stirred up a storm, the suicides of dozens of farmers were not even being acknowledged by any political party, he said . The Kothamangalam municipal chairman, V.V.Kurien, presided.

Ashadevi Varma, Deputy Director of Agriculture, introduced the project for the seminar participants. The Kothamangalam Municipality standing committee chairman, P.P. Uthuppan, the Kothamangalam Block Panchayat welfare standing committee chairman, P.S. Surendran, the municipal councillor, Mathew Joseph, the vicar of St. George Cathedral, Jose Monippally, and Lissy Abraham, Assistant Director of Agriculture, Kothamangalam, also spoke.

Coconut-based products

R. Jnanadevan, Assistant Director, Coconut Development Board, Ernakulam, spoke about the projects being implemented by the Board and the coconut-based products it was promoting. He also answered the questions of the participants on coconut farming. There was a display of the major coconut-based products promoted by the Board, as well as publications on various aspects of coconut farming.

Suma Paulose, from Kerala Agricultural University, spoke about the different aspects of bush jasmine cultivation.

Vanilla processing

Following requests from the increasing number of vanilla farmers who are finding it difficult to market raw vanilla in the present market condition, a session on processing vanilla was presented by C.R. Gangadharan Pillai from Spices Board, Kochi.

Six floriclubs with each club, with 25 members each, have already been formed in Kothamangalam block, which has 10 krishi bhavans. Apart from providing planting material, the women will also be given training at the block level.

Exhibition of new varieties of farming equipment from the Regional Agro Industrial Development Cooperative, Kannur, as well as bio-manure and bio control mechanisms for pest management produced by private entrepreneurs was also held as part of the seminar.

More than 500 participants, the majority of them women, attended the seminar. Apart from the members of floriclubs, individuals cultivating bush jasmine on their own also participated in the seminar, in order to learn more about the scheme and modes of cultivation.

Angamaly Block has also been selected for the floriculture scheme to be implemented through the floriclubs.

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