Aimed at ensuring better income to the farming community in Kerala, the State government is all set to launch an agricultural product marketing company in association with the farmer collectives along the lines of the Cochin International Airport Limited.
According to the Agriculture Minister P. Prasad, the new company named KAPCO is slated to be formed in two months and will help the farmers to market their products, while also churning out value added products. Once it starts operations, the company will usher in a positive change in the lives of farmers, he said. The Minister launched various agricultural products of the Pandalam-Thekkekkare panchayat here on Wednesday.
The Minister also lauded efforts by the local body in drawing its residents to agriculture.
“When this government decided to constitute farming collectives along the lines of neighbourhood groups, people responded by forming as many as 25,642 farming groups across the State. Even amidst these, the Pandalam Thekkekara panchayat led the way by setting up as many as 2,000 kitchen gardens in two hours’’, he noted.
Directing the Krishi Bhavans to come up with at least one value added product each, Mr.Prasad said the assistance of the World Bank would be sought in this regard. He also urged the Pandalam-Thekkekkara panchayat to bring out diluted coconut milk alongside its coconut oil brand and said that the agriculture department would render technical assistance to the project.
Deputy speaker Chittayam Gopakumar, who spoke on the occasion, asked the local body to inscribe the State government’s emblem on the agricultural products branded by the Pandalam-Thekkekkara panchayat.
