❖ Kerala’s agriculture department is planning to launch a pilot project under the New Agriculture Wealth Opportunities - Driving Horticulture Agribusiness Networking (NAWO-DHAN) scheme

❖ Around 22 land owners and 149 cultivators have so far responded to an expression of interest (EoI) floated in October for NAWO-DHAN scheme.

❖ Under the scheme, the farmer groups will be engaged for the cultivation through Service Level Agreements (SLA) treating ‘farming as a service’ without any transfer of any interest in the land concerned.

❖ There is annual production-demand gap of 13.76 lakh metric tonnes in the case of vegetables and, 14 lakh metric tonnes in the case of fruits.