KOCHI: Pokkali. Organically grown. Famed for its peculiar taste and high protein content. Cultivated in the sprawling waterlogged, and acidic, coastal regions of central Kerala. It has the potential to revolutionise paddy farming in the state's saline rice production system.
The organic mode of cultivation of Pokkali is best suited for the climatic conditions of the coastal regions as it catalyses the region's rich biodiversity to generate paddy and shrimp alternatively.However, Pokkali farming is yet to make giant strides in the saline rice production system where a single crop of the Pokkali rice is cultivated in the low-saline phase of the production cycle that starts with the arrival of monsoon and ends with the monsoon. Prawn farming follows, during the high-saline phase.
Statistics available with the Agriculture Department has always shown a marginal increase in Pokkali farming in the state, mainly in three districts - Ernakulam, Alappuzha and Thrissur - and in some parts of Kannur. But the ground reality is quite different as the profit-minded hoodwink the authorities by sowing seeds and then desert farming to claim government incentives offered for promoting Pokkali farming.
Later, they make available the field to shrimp farming as it is more beneficial, say experts.
Statistics show around 4,055 hectares of Pokkali fields are available for farming in Ernakulam alone. However, the area under cultivation is less than 500 hectares in the district which accounts for the largest area under Pokkali cultivation. District Collector K Mohammed Y Safirulla said the area under cultivation will be increased to 1,000 hectares this year, and 2,000 hectares next year.
Ernakulam Principal Agricultural Officer Sreedevi said the department has submitted a Rs 29 crore infrastructure development proposal to the Pokkali Land Development Agency to make farming more convenient.K S Shylaraj, Head, Rice Research Station, Vyttila, said Pokkali cultivation declined to less than 6,000 hectares from around 26,500 hectares over the past two decades.