Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram   

Sustainable farming key to food security: Minister

Thiruvananthapuram: Minister for Agriculture Mullakara Ratnakaran said here on Monday that revival of sustainable and environment-friendly agricultural practices held the key to achieving food security.

Delivering the inaugural address at an international seminar on ‘Sustainable Utilisation of Tropical Plant Biomass,’ organised by the University of Kerala in association with the Lund University, Sweden, he said threat to food security was the consequence of man’s plunder of natural resources to satisfy his greed. “The solution is to go back to Nature and restore harmony with the environment,” he said.

The Minister said the government’s effort to promote organic farming in Kerala had received a good response from farmers.

In his keynote address, chairman of the Kerala State Biodiversity Board V.S.Vijayan said the nation’s drive to increase the GDP-based economic growth had led to grave consequences for the natural environment. “Environmental degradation and species extinction are the result of this mad race to achieve the GDP growth rate at any cost. As much as 38 per cent of wetlands have disappeared over the last 10 years, affecting water availability. There is no action plan to protect the remaining wetlands.” Dr. Vijayan said biomass-based development offered a means to reverse environmental degradation. “As a key input for organic farming, efforts should be directed to sustainable utilisation of this resource,” he said.

Baboo M. Nair, Lund University, Sweden, who presided over the function, also stressed the need to ensure sustainability through intervention at the grassroots level.

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