The Hindu : Kerala News : Traditional agricultural practices may get a boost

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Nov 22, 2007
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Kerala

Kerala

Traditional agricultural practices may get a boost

Staff Reporter

KAU working on a research project

Financial aid to be extended to eligible farmers
Project being funded by State Planning Board

KASARAGOD: Traditional knowledge and practices in agriculture which often play an important role in agricultural sector but fail to get due recognition from the scientific community are all set to go through a serious scrutiny of agricultural scientists in the coming days.

A research project of Kerala Agricultural University (KAU) had collected and recorded vast amount of traditional knowledge and practices in agriculture from Kasaragod and Kannur districts, chief researcher of the project K.M. Sreekumar said. As a further step, the traditional knowledge acquired would be scientifically verified, said Sreekumar who is also an assistant professor at Agricultural College, Padannakkad. The project is being funded by the State Planning Board. At a press conference here on Wednesday, Mr. Sreekumar said as part of the project, the KAU and the Central Plantation Crops Research Institute (CPCRI), Kasaragod, would jointly organise a seminar on “Traditional practices in agriculture” at Agricultural College, Padannakkad, on November 23 at 10 a.m. Kasaragod district panchayat president M.V. Balakrishnan would inaugurate the seminar.

Mr. Sreekumar said farmers who were interested in sharing their expertise on agricultural matters were welcome to the seminar. Farmers could present their traditional knowledge before scientists and that would be evaluated, he said. “There is even a provision to extend financial help to eligible farmers who could improve upon their knowledge,” he said.

Mr. Sreekumar said the seminar also intended to collect the details of rare species of crops found in the district. Such crops would be protected for the posterity, he said. Mr. Sreekumar said traditional knowledge had a seminal role in the development of sustainable agricultural practices. Recording the traditional practices would also help to avoid multinational companies taking patents on technical knowledge based on traditional practices, he said.

C. Thampan of CPCRI was also present at the press conference.

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