PALAKKAD: Leader of a nine-member academic team from United States, Dwight W. Allen, has said that the farmers have to change their cropping pattern in the light of the threat of global warming.

The academic team during their visit to the district on Saturday said that the farmers were not inclined to adopt new cropping pattern as it would result in financial loss and other difficulties for them.

But the Governments and other agencies should help them make a smooth transition to the new pattern, he said.

Mr. Allen, a scholar of educational reform, Old Dominion University, Virginia, said that there was a big disparity between the farmers of developed countries and developing countries in getting subsidy and other governmental assistance. Though countries like US advise developing countries to cut down agriculture subsidy they continue to give more subsidies to their farmers.

This will make the products of developing countries uncompetitive in the world market after the introduction of WTO and other international trade agreements, he said.

Purpose of visit

The US team is on a visit to the State at the invitation of the Kerala Agriculture University. They are here to understand the agricultural extension and information delivery system for farmers with special focus on small-scale farmers.

Assistant Professor of Department of Plant Breeding and Genetics, Kerala Agriculture University, C.R. Elsy said that the team members wanted to know about extension system in Keralainnovative approaches implemented for information delivery to farmers using conventional and high-tech tools.

The team visited Thenkurissi village and interacted with the farmers of Akampadam Padasekhara Samithy.

They also visited the Vegetable and Fruits Production Council centre and a self-help farmers market in Alathur.

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