How Ulloor Krishi Bhavan in Thiruvananthapuram is handholding small scale farmers

Lissy Radhakrishnan is each smiles erstwhile she takes america done her travel arsenic an agripreneur. We conscionable her astatine the recently-opened Krishi Samridhi retail outlet, a abstraction attached to Ulloor Krishi Bhavan astatine Parottukonam, successful Thiruvananthapuram, wherever you get implicit 100 products of the Krishikkottams oregon farming collectives nether the Krishi Bhavan.

Rainbow, which is Lissy’s Krishikkoottam, sells spice powders, chopped vegetables, pickles, and coconut lipid among different products. Nearly 50 specified collectives dispersed crossed 11 wards person been registered nether the Krishi Bhavan. Krishikkoottam is an inaugural of the Kerala Government’s Department of Agriculture and Farmer’s Welfare and is an hold of the run to beforehand farming successful households.

The Krishi Bhavan, led by Sopna S, the cultivation officer, has acceptable distant a tiny agri gyration done aggregate initiatives implicit the past 1 year. The Krishi Samridhi outlet is the caller summation to it. A item is the traceability QR codes of each Krishikkoottam displayed astatine the outlet, which helps customers to browse the produce’s travel done photographs and videos.

Besides caller vegetables and fruits, the outlet sells honey, millets and millet-based products, beverage and dairy products, rice, pickle, fruit-based drinks, spices, medicinal herbs etc. The products are sold nether the marque Ulloor Greens, connected the lines of Kalliyoor Greens, which Sopna had taken the inaugural to motorboat portion moving arsenic the cultivation serviceman astatine Kalliyoor, the rootlike hub of the district.

“We person taken a multi-pronged attack to enactment farmers. A large inaugural is the motorboat of secondary agriculture, wherein the farmers are encouraged to instrumentality up value-addition and processing,” explains Sopna. She adds, “Production unsocial has been the absorption of astir of the farmers for long. Take the lawsuit of banana. When they merchantability the effect arsenic it is they seldom get immoderate profit. That is wherefore they are trained to travel up with value-added products,” she adds.

This has been made imaginable done the organisation of machines and different equipment, with the Department of Agriculture providing subsidy. “Thanks to the fiscal enactment of the Krishi Bhavan, I could bargain refrigerator, mixer grinder, rootlike cutter, tiny stove etc. I americium besides capable to supply employment to a fewer women astatine my unit,” says Lissy.

Sopna adds, “The Department provides fiscal enactment of up to ₹1 lakh. Most of the Krishikkoottams person benefited from it successful 1 mode oregon other. Earlier the farmers did not person basal infrastructure; they had nary packing instrumentality and immoderate of them didn’t cognize however to seal bottles. After archetypal hiccups, they picked up processing, packing and labelling,” she says.

The Krishi Bhavan has besides been encouraging the cultivation of assorted vegetables connected astir 20 acres. “Each corporate is assigned a antithetic rootlike and the cultivable country ranges from 10 cents to 2 acres. Saplings/seeds are distributed; we besides supply guidance and method support. The nutrient volition beryllium collected by america and sold astatine the outlet. Since Vishu is astir to arrive, we person fixed the saplings and seeds of kanivellari (golden cucumber), kani mathan (pumpkin), amaranthus, agelong beans etc,” she says.

The retail outlet itself is tally by a Krishikkoottam, Karmasena, which has an eight-member team. Binu G., a subordinate of Karmasena says, “We cultivate connected 2 acres and this see tomato, chillies, sweetener cane, watermelon, agathi poovu (Hummingbird flower) etc. We besides bring retired value-added products specified arsenic roasted coconut, coconut beverage etc. We had a bully harvest of Mangalapuram Ooru Venda [a accepted lady’s digit assortment from Mangalapuram region] and we are selling the seeds now.“

He adds that astir of the farmers nether the Krishi Bhavan are into small-scale farming. “If determination is an other produce, they bring it to our outlet. This tin beryllium immoderate homegrown produce, accidental vegetables, mangoes oregon adjacent roseate apples,” helium says.

Sopna mentions that the Krishi Bhavan has been capable to supply employment for galore individuals by involving them successful production.

Besides the retail outlet, the Krishi Bhavan has launched an online market. Home transportation is disposable wrong a circumstantial radius.

Connect with 9037790044 via WhatsApp to articulation the online agro selling radical of Ulloor Krishi Bhavan and spot orders. The retail outlet is unfastened from 9.30am to 6pm connected each moving days