Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram   

Step up foodgrain output: Patnaik

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Kerala will have to step up food grain production and bring more land under cultivation if the State is to overcome the looming threat to its food security, vice-chairman of the Kerala State Planning Board Prabhat Patnaik said here on Tuesday.

Delivering the inaugural address at a seminar and workshop on watershed management organised by the Western Ghats Development Programme, he said the shift from food grain to cash crop production and the decline in the land under cultivation would affect the farm sector in Kerala in the near future. “The increase in food grain prices at the global level is also likely to be felt in the State, affecting food security.”

Mr. Patnaik warned that the recession in the world economy was bound to lead to a collapse in the prices of cash crops, affecting a large number of farmers in Kerala. “Although the State has a Debt Relief Commission and a food procurement policy, they are not enough to cushion the impact.”

“In Kerala, the diversification into manufacturing, services and other sectors was based on the traditional view that the agricultural sector had become stagnant. Food crop production has come down over the years as farmers switched to the more remunerative high-value cash crops. But cash crop cultivation is intrinsically risky. It needs large credit and is subject to wide price fluctuation.”

Mr. Patnaik observed that the neo-liberal policies pursued by the Central government had exposed cash crop farmers to the vagaries of the international market.

Mr.Patnaik said Kerala should reverse the decline in the land under food crop cultivation. This, he said, was important, also from the point of view of employment generation. “Food grain production is employment-intensive unlike cash crop farming. Hence, increasing food crop production also addresses the problem of unemployment and will help to supplement the activities taken up under National Rural Employment Guarantee Programme.”

Mr.Patnaik said the Union government’s move to dismantle the public distribution system (PDS) posed another threat to Kerala’s food security.

“With the Centre slashing food grain supply, States will have to depend on their own resources. This is another compelling reason for Kerala to increase food grain production.”

Teeka Ram Meena, Secretary, Planning and Economic Affairs, presided over the inaugural function and Planning Board member K.N. Harilal delivered the keynote address.

Mr. Patnaik released a booklet published by the Western Ghats Cell on the problems and prospects of paddy cultivation in Kerala.

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