Kerala - Kochi   

Need for self-sufficiency in vegetable production

KOCHI: The shrinking acreage under paddy cultivation in the State and the staggering dependence on imported vegetables and other food items have put Kerala at the bottom of the list of states on the basis of food security.

From a time of near self-sufficiency in food production, Kerala now depends entirely on neighbouring states for its food needs.

According to estimates, around Rs. 1,000 crore worth of vegetables are imported into Kerala yearly.

The State produces only about five lakh of tonnes of vegetables out of a total annual requirement of around 25 lakh tonnes.

Even with these imports, an average Malayali consumes less vegetables than what is recommended by the Indian Council of Medical Research. It is with this in the backdrop that the Vegetable and Fruit Promotion Council, at the forefront of an initiative to establish a vegetable garden, however small, in every homestead in the State, is bringing out video compact disc on planting and tending of vegetables.

The video presentation captures the essence of the dangerous situation Kerala is in today and starts with the visuals of cultivation of vegetables, all of them traditional favourites in Kerala homes, on a terrace in the heart of the city. It then goes on to describe the peril Kerala has plunged itself headlong into.

The ever rising cost of consuming poisoned vegetables and fruits is portrayed in all its enormity.

Then the video presentation goes on to guide the viewers to the fact that they can make a difference.

The presentation began with a quote from the father of the nation Mahatma Gandhi, which said, “You must be the change that you want to see in the world.”

The aim of the video presentation, soon to be available across the State, is to instruct anyone interested in cultivating vegetables on terraces on little plots of land they have.

Only individual initiatives can make a difference.

A difference that will bring back the spring into our kitchen gardens.

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