Kerala Plans to Form Farming Community Clusters Based on Neighbourhood Networks Model

Kerala, known for its extensive network of grassroots neighbourhood and self-help groups, will soon have 10,000 farming groups in all districts. The goal of such groups, known as "krishikkoottam," is to promote agriculture and assist farmers in planning their crops.

State Revenue Minister K Rajan stated that masterplans would be developed based on crops and cultivation areas by forming local farming groups at the grassroots level on the model of neighbourhood networks, popularly known in Kerala as "ayalkkoottam."

He said after inaugurating the farmers' day celebrations in a function here on Wednesday that masterplans would be prepared and distributed to farmers based on the types of farming and irrigation.

Farmers can plan their farming operations using such masterplans, he added. According to Rajan, the plan is to establish at least 10,000 such "krishikkoottams" across the state under the auspices of local self-government institutions.

During the function, which was co-hosted by the Corporation and the Department of Agriculture Development and Farmers' Welfare, he also presented awards to the best farmers in the district.

About Community System of Farming

Using a cooperative organization made up of farm households in a traditional rural community, CBF is a farming system that aims to ensure effective and economical management by combining all the resources.

What is Cluster-based farming?

A consolidated cultivable holding dedicated to particular food grains, vegetables, fruits, and other horticulture crops is what the cluster-based approach aims to create. There were two cluster farming strategies found: an area-based strategy and a commodity-based strategy.

For example, clusters that have been finalized for the project include Shopian (J&K) and Kinnaur (HP) for apples, Lucknow (UP), Kutch (Gujarat) and Mahbubnagar (Telangana) for mangoes, Anantpur (AP) and Theni (TN) for bananas, Nasik (Maharashtra) for grapes, Siphahijala (Tripura) for pineapples, Solapur (Maharashtra) and Chitradurga (Karnataka) for pomegranates and West Jaintia Hills (Meghalaya) for turmeric.