CM Pinarayi Vijayan takes to farming on Cliff House terrace
CM's wife and grandson take initiative with support from agriculture officials
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Come Onam, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and his family will have organic sadya with the produce harvested from the compound of his official residence, Cliff House. The Kudapanakunnu Krishi Bhavan has set up several grow bags for organic vegetables with drip irrigation facility supported by the state agricultural development farmers welfare scheme atop the terrace at Cliff House. The chief minister's grandson Ishaan and wife Kamala Vijayan have taken the initiative for this.
Minutes before Mr Vijayan was to leave for the Assembly, he accompanied Kamala Vijayan and Ishaan to the terrace to sow vegetable seeds and replant saplings ready to be transferred from the germination tray prepared by the Krishi Bhavan officials. Mr Vijayan postponed his breakfast and planted and watered the saplings.
Kudapanakunnu Karshika Karma Sena will take care of the organic farming. Thiruvananthapuram district agricultural officer S.K. Suresh, deputy director C.F. Salins Kumar and assistant director Antony Rose were instrumental in setting up the farm. KKS coordinator K. G. Binulal, agriculture officer C. L. Mini, assistant agriculture officer R. Ajayakumar and agriculture technicians attended the programme.
The KKS team has been converting barren land into organic vegetable farm lands in schools, students’ homes, government institutions, homemakers’ kitchen garden and self-help organisations. They have been providing vegetable seeds and grow bags at subsidised rates and help in organic farming and providing market for the yields. The Karshika Karma Sena was mooted as a model scheme by the agriculture department under the aegis of Kudapanakunnu Krishi Bhavan in 2008.