Soon, you will be able to shop online for books on farming and allied topics published by Kerala Agricultural University (KAU). For the first time, KAU is making available the books to the farming community and the general public through e-commerce platforms such as Amazon.
Books published by the university, including the much-in-demand Package of Practices (Organic), will be sold under the ‘Keralagro’ brand launched by the Agriculture department earlier this year, B. Ashok, Vice-Chancellor, KAU, told The Hindu.
Till now, the sale of these books was confined to select sales counters of the Thrissur-based university which runs agriculture colleges and research stations across the State.
Last week, the Director of Agriculture issued orders granting KAU a “non-exclusive, non-transferable, revocable and royalty-free licence” to use the ‘Keralagro’ trademark for the distribution and sales of all the publications of the Communications Centre of the university.
While the market is flooded with books dealing with farming, the reputation and credibility of KAU and the growing popularity of the ‘Keralagro’ brand are expected to drive sales. As an introductory offer, the university is also planning to gift a packet of seeds with every book.
KAU publications that will be sold online include the Package of Practices (PoP) and the PoP (Organic), two books that are high in demand. Also on the list of 36 published books are works dealing with individual crops such as paddy, coconut, mushrooms, banana, tubers, tamarind, and medicinal plants. Other books deal with crop diseases, medicinal plants, different types of fertilisers, the ‘Krishi Panchangam,’ and the soil types of Kerala.
All future publications also will be put up for sale online, senior officials said.
“The online sales will guarantee wider reach to these books. We are aiming to tap the Indian market in the initial phase,” Jacob John, Director of Extension, KAU, said. The university is currently in the process of securing International Standard Book Number (ISBN) for the books. “We have received ISBN for the first lot of books which will be put on sale soon,” Ani S. Das, head, Communications Centre, KAU, said.
The Agriculture department had launched the ‘Keralagro’ brand at the sixth edition of the VAIGA expo (Value Addition for Income Generation in Agriculture) in February this year so as to boost sales of value-added farm products from Kerala. By April, more than 130 products were being sold online.
