planning to launch paddy cultivation in 21,500 hectares of fallow land
across the State as part of the Food Safety Programme in the current
financial year.The Minister was inaugurating a public meeting at St.
Mary's Orthodox Church auditorium at Niranom, after launching paddy
cultivation at Chennamkary paddy fields in the Upper Kuttanad region
of Thiruvalla taluk on Friday.According to him, the State's annual
rice production has been put at only 6.5 lakh tonne against the annual
consumption of 38 lakh tonne.Mr. Ratnakaran said the Food Safety
Programme had been launched with a mission to increase State's paddy
production to 12 lakh tonne by 2011.He said Kerala was the first State
in the country to introduce interest-free farm loans to paddy
cultivators. Moreover, the government had provided insurance cover for
peasants who came forward for paddy cultivation in fallow lands as
part of Food Safety Programme, he added.Mr. Ratnakaran said farming
was part of our culture and the government was on a mission to revive
this culture by upholding the slogan, "all roads lead to paddy
fields."He said children attached to as many as 52 schools in the
State had joined the Food Safety Programme by engaging themselves in
paddy cultivation.The Minister said the government was planning to
launch paddy cultivation in an extent of 1,000 ha fallow land in
Pathanamthitta district this year.Transport Minister Mathew T. Thomas
presided over the meeting. Delivering the keynote address, Dr.
Philipose Mar Chrysostum, senior Metropolitan of Mar Thoma Church,
stressed the need for evolving a positive farming culture.
The Hindu, 22nd November 2008
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