M Govindan, Associate Dean, Department of Plant Breeding and Genetics, College of Agriculture, said there are around 4100 hectares of Kaipad rice tracts in the three districts. The paddy production potential of varieties per hectare ranges from 1.9 tonnes (traditional varieties) to 4.2 tonnes (Ezhome).
Considering an average Kaipad rice production of 1.8 tones/hectare, there is a potential of production and marketing of approximately 7000 tonnes of organic Kaipad rice per year, if the entire Kaipad tracts are made cultivable, he said. C R Elsy, Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) Cell convener, KAU said the farmers will have the right to use the name as a brand for their produce. The organic products have good domestic and international market which fetches farmers more income.
The Kaipad way
Rice farming is carried out in a natural way in Kaipad, relying on the monsoon and the sea tides.Neither chemical fertilizers nor plant protection chemicals are used. The tidal flows make the fields highly fertile through a symbiotic relationship between rice crop and prawn, shrimp and fish. The fingerlings of fish, shrimps and prawns, which swim in from the sea and the backwaters after the rice harvest, feed on the leftovers of the harvested crop.