Kerala Department of Agriculture to Form Organic Agriculture Mission in 2022

The Agriculture Ministry will shape an organic agriculture mission in 2022 to ensure the production of safe food, Agriculture Minister P. Prasad said.

Food production in 2022 will focus on health protection, Prasad said during a media briefing as part of a two-day workshop on ‘Carbon Neutral Agriculture in Kerala’ being held by the Department of Agriculture on Thursday and Friday.

The department will implement projects aimed at achieving carbon neutrality in the agricultural sector by integrating the recommendations and suggestions made during the workshop.

Farmers will be trained in farming practices that help reduce carbon emissions. Workshops will be held in all panchayats on the theme of carbon neutral agriculture, Prasad said. The ministry also plans to introduce benchmarks at the unit level (individual farms) as part of the assessment of emission levels, he added.

Carbon footprint

Experts who attended the workshop believed that a carbon footprint assessment is the first step towards achieving carbon neutral agriculture in the state. How to go about reducing carbon dioxide emissions is the second.

Prasant Kumar Swain, Additional Secretary (Agriculture), Government of India; Chairman of the State Finance Commission, SM Vijayanand; T. Vijay Kumar, Ex-Officio Special Chief Secretary, Government of Andhra Pradesh (Natural Agriculture); Members of the State Planning Board, experts from various institutes including Kerala Forest Research Institute, Peechi; Kerala Agricultural University and Dehradun Forest Research Institute participated in the event.