[1]Agriculture scientist Dr M.S. Swaminathan has called for a fresh ‘evergreen revolution’ after the ‘Green Revolution’ had been taken over by ‘greed revolution’ causing serious impact to environment.
The scientist who was here on Monday to review the progress of the Kuttanad package, also delivered the XI Cardinal Parecattil Commemorative Lecture 2012 and met pokkali farmers growing a saline-tolerant rice variety in water-logged areas.
Expressing satisfaction over the Kuttanad project works which he said would be hopefully completed by 2015, he said that the project to mitigate the distress of farmers should prioritize modernization of Thottappilly spillway and construction of the below-the-sea-level dykes.
The project for which `300 crore has been set aside by the 13th Finance Commission also needed to desilt the bunds and clean the waterways on the basis of a crop calendar readied for the area.
The declaration of Kuttanad as a world heritage site was expected to happen sometime in September, he added.
He also had discussions with farmers of the unique pokkali rice and said steps would be taken to promote its cultivation.
Links:
[1] http://103.241.136.51/18k-bmc1jpgcropdisplayjpg-517