The National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) has sanctioned a loan of ₹2,500 crore to support the government’s programme to improve food production and reduce reliance on other States for rice and perishables.
A top-level meeting chaired by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Saturday decided to make full use of the amount in a time-bound manner to turn fallow land into high-yield farms. The money would go into paddy and vegetable cultivation, fisheries and inland and marine fish farming.
Farmers could avail themselves of loans via the Kerala Bank and also the Kerala Grameen Bank. They will receive the loans through their accounts in primary agriculture cooperatives.
High-tech methods
Kerala Bank has earmarked ₹990 crore for paddy cultivation. It would also extend loans for developing fisheries and animal husbandry.
Mr. Vijayan urged farmers to move away from traditional methods of cultivation and to adopt the latest precision high-tech farming methods. He encouraged youngsters to show a keen interest in farming and said the State’s egg and meat production should increase.
Industries Minister E.P. Jayarajan, Minister for Cooperation Kadakampally Surendran, Minister for Forests K. Raju, vice chairman of the State Planning Board V.K. Ramachandran, and Chief General Manager, NABARD, R. Sreenivasan were present.
