Keraka Govt to convene meeting to increase foodgrain production

Thiruvananthapuram, Apr 23 (UNI) Kerala Chief Minister V S Achuthanandan today said the government would convene a meeting of all departments to chalk out a strategy to increase foodgrain production.

Talking to newspersons after a Cabinet meeting here, he said as Agriculture and Animal Husbandry Departments could not take a decision, the government would convene a meeting of all departments soon to take a final decision on how to implement food security scheme in the state.

On the apprehension of CPI, a coalition partner in the ruling Left Democratic Front (LDF), entrusted with Civil Supplies and Agriculture portfolios that the importance of their departments would come down while implementing the food security scheme, the Chief Minister said there was no need for any such anxiety in this regard.

The scheme would be beneficial for all. However, a final decision in this regard would be taken at a special cabinet meeting soon, he added.

The government would take steps to provide interest-free loans to farmers as part of promoting food production. Besides this, it would also encourage people to increase the production of foodgrains, eggs and milk by providing kits to them, he said.

Stating that the government was planning to step-up the production of paddy in the coming years, the Chief Minister said though Kuttanad, Palakkad and Thrissur were the major paddy cultivating areas, it wanted to utilise the uncultivated paddy fields from Kasaragod to Thiruvananthapuram for promoting paddy production, by coordinating the function of various departments, including Irrigation, Finance and Cooperation.

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