Kerala agri varsity develops hybrid seedless watermelon

Venturing into the modern agri-farming, state owned INKEL Limited has introduced a yellow seedless hybrid of watermelons for the first time in the Kerala market.

The unique variety of the thirst quencher was developed by Kerala Agriculture University (KAU) and has been cultivated on a five-and-a-half acre plot at Piravom near here as part of INKEL Agro Farm project.

"The KAU, for the first time, shared the technology of planting the seedless variety of watermelon in Kerala. There will be a huge demand for the same in the market," said INKEL MD T. Balakrishnan on Friday.

"We forayed into the modern farming business to bridge the demand-supply gap for safe-to-eat fruits and vegetables," he pointed out.

INKEL, a PPP model company, has also initiated polyhouse at Piravom and INKEL Greens, Malappuram for producing vegetables, including green chilli, long beans, brinjal and ladyfinger.

As part of expansion, INKEL is also implementing a modern agro farm at Palakkad in a 60-acre area. The venture will also support local farmers with training on most modern farming techniques.

"It can guide the farmers on the adoption of new technologies, farm practices, modern processing techniques, and post- harvest technologies for value addition," he said.

"The ultimate aim of the farms established by INKEL is to give a fillip to the modern agricultural practices by bringing in the best technology and practices available elsewhere in the world," he added.