The KVK-Ernakulam in association with KVKs Lakshadweep, Kasaragod, Kannur, Kozhikkode, Thrissur, Kottayam, Alappuzha and Pathanamthitta organized a National level Farmer-Scientist interface on 12th October 2023 at hotel Le-Meridian, Kochi as part of XVI Agricultural Science Congress hosted by ICAR-Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute (CMFRI), Kochi. Total 178 farmers including 5 Padmashri awardee farmers from Chattisgarh, Goa, Gujrat, Karnataka, Kerala, Lakshadweep, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Odisha, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Tripura, Uttarakhand and UttarPradesh participated. The programme was chaired by Dr Ashok Kumar Singh, Vice Chancellor, Rani Lakshmi bhai Central Agricultural University, Jhansi and co-chaired by Dr V. Geethalakshmi, Vice Chancellor, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore. PadmaShri Cheruvayal K Raman from Kerala, PadmaShri Sabarmatee from Odisha, PadmaShri Chandrasekhar Singh from Uttar Pradesh, PadmaShri Batakrushna Sahoo from Odisha and PadmaShri Seth Pal Singh from Uttar Pradesh participated and shared their success stories. Farmers raised various issues including fair pricing and reliable market for farm produce, formulation of developmental policies by considering needs and challenges of small and medium scale farmers, ensuring social dignity to farmers particularly when approaching financial institutions and government offices, provision of interest-free loans to FPOs, inclusion of farmers’ produce in public distribution system to enhance market reach, etc. Crisis faced by coconut farmers due to falling prices and disease outbreak was also highlighted.
