Good News! Kerala Opens Up New Indo-Dutch Centre of Excellence for Flowers and Vegetables

Amid the corona crisis across the nation, all new Indo-Dutch centre of excellence (CoE) for flowers and vegetables has recently inaugurated in Kerala's Wayanad area. Moreover, the excellence center will put together exercises, like, precision cultivation of flowers and vegetables, production and dissemination of good quality planting materials to farmers. According to reports, further training will be provided to farmers, local entrepreneurs, and officials through different programmes in the first stage, it added. 

The excellence center also holds a tissue culture lab that has been set up with an objective of delivering up to the mark quality planting materials. The center will likewise investigate possible outcomes in the agri-horti tourism industry in the locality. The thought is to change Wayanad into a center point of horticulture and floriculture," the official statement stated. The established CoE will act as an archive for knowledge on Dutch technology and practices which is relevant to India. The CoE was inaugurated by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan in a virtual assembly. Later, the meeting was presided by MoS Agriculture, Mr. Narendra Singh Tomar. 

In the meeting, Mr. Vijayan said that the center would help to revive the agribusiness sector in Kerala and will implement numerous creative innovations in horticulture and vegetable development that the Netherlands has created. Later Tomar commented that the established center will benefit the entire country and not confined to only Kerala. 

A total of Rupees 13 Crore is spent for setting up of the excellence center. The sum was provided by the central and state governments and assistance with the technology was received from the Dutch government. This center is going to be the second CoE under the Indo-Dutch Joint Action Plan. First one is located at Baramati in Maharashtra introduced back in 2017. 

Jan-Kees Goet, Secretary-General, Netherlands Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality commented that the COE's are the symbol of cooperation between both the countries. He also added that providing proper training to the farmers and getting them introduced to modern edge technology will propel them forward in the supply chain and in the long run will benefit the entire economy.

According to report, Goet likewise complimented Ambassador of India to the Netherlands Venu Rajamony for his enthusiastic endeavours to seal the plans for the excellence center and for being generally dynamic in propelling the interest of rural collaboration between the two nations. He also added, among all the diplomatic corps, Rajamony has separated himself as the most excited advertiser of horticultural relations. The function was also graced by few other dignitaries namely, V S Sunil kumar, Minister for Agriculture, Kerala, and Marten Van den Berg, Ambassador of the Netherlands to India. This centre is set up as a component of the Indo-Dutch Action Plan and in follow up to the letter of purpose marked by the ambassador of the Netherlands to India and the minister for agribusiness, Kerala, during the event of the Royal visit of His Majesty, King of the Netherlands, to Kerala in October 2019, the statement added.