Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala Agriculture Minister P Prasad on Wednesday mentioned that efforts are on to extend the variety of photo voltaic power primarily based irrigation services which may remove current farming practices which power power.
The southern State has launched into a transformative and holistic shift to sustainable farming practices, livelihood diversification, decentralized renewables and power effectivity to assist farmers survive the local weather disaster, as he.
The State is getting ready an motion plan to assist scale back energy-intensive strategies of land preparation, rising inputs, irrigation and harvesting, the Minister mentioned after inaugurating a two-day session on ‘Power Transition in Agriculture Sector in Kerala,’ organized collectively by Asar Social Affect Advisors and Power Administration Heart (EMC) below KSEB right here.
Prasad mentioned meals processing and worth addition processes can even be underpinned by renewable power.
The State is accelerating a big carbon impartial initiative that may assist develop a greater agricultural ecosystem, he detailed.
Warning towards the evil schemes of multinational corporations and curiosity teams that use the local weather disaster and power transition to promote their gear that worsens the power disaster, Prasad mentioned that the State can pay particular consideration to make sure that the power switch turns into totally helpful to the farmers. and the surroundings.
Kerala will discover renewable power options to fossil gas sources to make sure that meals techniques are constructed on protected, environmentally sustainable, steady foundations, Prasad added.
In his keynote handle, meals coverage analyst Devinder Sharma cautioned all involved towards the Union authorities’s transfer to make use of rice meant for meals to provide ethanol, calling it another supply. of gasoline.
Even whereas speaking about power transition and local weather resilience, India is doing issues which are exacerbating the agricultural and local weather crises, he mentioned.
“In Punjab, the State has 5 lakh tractors, whereas its precise demand is lower than one lakh tractors. Such a state of affairs exists throughout India, and all of them result in larger use of fossil fuels. The federal government’s push is to scale back the variety of farmers from farming and substitute them with know-how. Such a transfer has many social and environmental impacts,” he mentioned.
Dr Ramanhaneyulu, government director of the Heart for Sustainable Agriculture, identified that the effectivity of utilizing chemical fertilizers has decreased 4 occasions within the final 40 years. Consequently, the soil requires the usage of massive quantities of chemical fertilizers to acquire the specified yield.
“The soil has turn out to be anemic, and the situation of crops and folks is similar,” he mentioned.
“A NITI Ayog report confirmed that 67 p.c of the lands are low in carbon. He mentioned excessive inhabitants, excessive arable land and excessive irrigation make agriculture much less worthwhile and unsustainable,” he mentioned.
He additionally desires an integrative strategy that brings collectively power, water, local weather and land-related challenges to advertise resilience.
ASAR chief government Vinutha Gopal mentioned the nation’s agricultural sector wants transformative modifications within the face of an aggressive local weather disaster.
The transition should do justice to the farming neighborhood, primarily nominal farmers and agricultural employees.
Tamil Nadu planning fee member Sultan Ismail, Photo voltaic Power Company common supervisor Bharat Kumar Reddy and EMC director R Harikumar have been among the many specialists who spoke on the session on the primary day.
The session will discover the chances and challenges earlier than Kerala in shifting in direction of power sustainability. The suggestions will probably be submitted to the Division of Electrical energy and Agriculture.
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