Farmers should create value-added items from agriculture: Kerala minister

Farmers in Kerala should create value-added items out of their agricultural products and sell them as international brands in the world market to increase their income, state Agriculture Minister P Prasad said.

Speaking after inaugurating the silver jubilee celebrations of Kudumbashree projects at Ranni in Pathanamthitta district of the state, the minister said farmers can boost their income by international branding and sale of such value added products and by better organising the agricultural labour force.

"Mechanization of the agricultural labor force can help both the farmer and the laborers," he said.

As a step towards that, necessary machinery will be provided to the agricultural work force in Ranni Perunad panchayat with the help of the agriculture department, Prasad said.

He further said that "our diet and lifestyle invite diseases, so we must take up agriculture to avoid them".

The minister also praised the Kudumbashree and said it was a system that the world can emulate as the initiative has turned women in Kerala into an economic force.