Southern States - Kerala   

More commitment sought from farm officers

By Our Special Correspondent

KOZHIKODE JAN. 6. Repeated reminders to agricultural officers to show more sense of involvement in the Government's efforts to rejuvenate the farm sector were heard at the inaugural session of the one-day workshop on the theme `from soil-to-man' organised by the State Land Use Board here today.

K. J. Alphonse Kannathanam, Commissioner, Land Use Board, known for his plain speaking, said ``IT cannot save Kerala but agriculture can''.

K. Muraleedharan, MP, who inaugurated, agreed with him that agriculture was the backbone of the State economy, and remarked ``every farmer who walks into a krishi bhavan should be treated as a VIP''.

The objective of the programme was to train farm officers to develop `farm - models' suits for the farmers in their jurisdiction.

Besides, officers of agricultural departments, presidents of panchayats in six districts in this part of the State were also invitees. However, the attendance at the programme was thin, presumably because it was being held when a 12-hour strike by autorickshaw and taxi drivers was on.

Both Mr. Muraleedharan and Mr. Kannathanam, remarked that the auto-strike was no valid excuse for staying away from such an important programme.

The Director of the Agriculture department, K. R. Jyothilal, in his welcome speech, reminded agricultural officers present at the workshop that the prime objective of `krishi bhavans' which they manned was to enable the farmer to gain new knowledge through constant interaction with staff of the agriculture department.

``If this does not happen krishi bhavans are of no use'', he said. The Agriculture Department Director suggested that local panchayats monitor functioning of the krishi bhavan in their locality. It would help improve its efficiency, he added.

Mr. Jyothilal said even though the State's farm scenario was bleak some recent Governmental initiatives to rejuvenate the agriculture sector had won international acclaim.

These were the self-help groups formed for vegetable production and the homestead farming concept. The European Union was trying to replicate the self-help groups' vegetable farming model in its countries.

Through the latter, which has won the appreciation of the Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO), some small farmers now earn between Rs. 2,000 to Rs. 3,000 a month.

Mr. Kannathanam used the occasion to take a dig at the Keralite's mindset which he said was incompatible with development.

Arson and slogans cannot usher in a revolution. Only hard work can, he said adding that the average Keralite's mindset was reflected in his rapturous response to cheap entertainment offered by films like `Meesa Madhavan' and jokes churned out by TV programmes like `Comedy Time'.

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