Staff Reporter

KASARAGOD: Agriculture Minister Mullakkara Ratnakaran said here on Monday that the State should produce at least 13 lakh tonnes of paddy a year to effectively intervene in the rice market and regulate its price.

The Minister was speaking after inaugurating a Soil and Plant Health Clinic of the Soil Survey Department at a function at the Kasaragod District Collectorate. Though 13 lakh tonnes of paddy would not suffice to meet the demand for food grain, it would enable the government to effectively intervene in the market. The government had already launched a scheme for interest-free loans to paddy farmers, he said.

The Minister said a study had found that large tracts of paddy fields in the State remained fallow. Groups of farmers can take up cultivation in these fields. They can directly apply for loans from banks. He said projects to revive fallow lands for cultivation could be taken up under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS). The local bodies and the Agricultural Department will provide the necessary aid to farmers’ groups.

Mr. Ratnakaran said the State should achieve self-sufficiency in vegetable production, as the total cost of vegetables imported into the State was Rs.1,200 crore a year.

Mr. Ratnakaran said research activities in the agriculture sector should be given a new orientation to make it more beneficial to the people.

Additional Director of Agriculture and head of Soil Survey P.N. Premachandran, who delivered the introductory speech, said research orientation in the State should be changed from the current system approach to situation approach to benefit farmers. The State had a rich variety of soil types.