The yearly pokkali rice cultivation season looks to have taken a beating with the COVID-19 lockdown preventing timely field preparations even as the monsoon season appears to have set in.
But the Agriculture Department says that farmers have responded enthusiastically to a call to increase acreage under pokkali rice and that the delay in draining fields should not be a cause for major concern.
Benedict Chrisostom, convener of Pokkali Samrakshana Samiti, said on Wednesday that vast tracts of pokkali fields in Chellanam panchayat remained inundated though there were some preparations being done at Kandakkadavu paddy collective.
The Samiti has been at the front of a people’s campaign to prevent pokkali rice cultivation from going totally out of practice in the face of pressure from fish and shrimp farmers, who are keen to get the fields entirely for aquaculture throughout the year.
Pokkali is a unique rice variety in the coastal areas of Alappuzha, Ernakulam and Thrissur districts. The salt water resistant variety grows tall, flourishes under flood-like conditions and grows entirely on leftovers from half-a-year of fish culture in fields. The cycle is called ‘one fish and one rice’ in which fish is grown up to April 15 after which fields are drained before the first bout of rains get them rid of salt. The season goes up to October when they are brought under fish culture again.
Uncertainty
Francis Kulathungal, who was among those instrumental in forming the Samiti, said that there was lot of uncertainty as the pokkali season takes off.
A senior official of the Agriculture Department said that around 548 hectares were expected to be brought under pokkali this season in the district. This included large tracts in Ezhikkara, Chellanam, Kadamakkudy, Mulavukad, Edvanakkad, Kuzhuppilly and Nayarambalam. About 100 hectares were likely to be brought under cultivation in Ezhikkara; 52 hectares in Kottuvally, eight hectares in Chittattukara, 80 hectares in Varapuzha, 10 hectares in Karumalloor and 160 hectares in Kadamakkudy. The official said that while field preparations were on, some of the areas had also seen sowing.
Seed shortage
Meanwhile, there is a shortage of seed availability and the department has supplied the Ezhom variety from Kannur, which is also a salt water resistant variety of rice. The drought-like conditions in 2017 and the floods in 2018 and 2019 have resulted in a severe shortage of seeds. It is estimated that about 64 tonnes of seeds would be required in the three districts where pokkali is grown.