THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Chemmaruthi panchayat in Thiruvananthapuram will now sell its own brand of parboiled rice in the market. The rice produced in panchayat got the brand name Chemmaruthi and will soon be available in the markets.“As part of the Subhiksha Keralam project, we had cultivated 350 tonnes of paddy in 68 hectares of unused agricultural land here.
By involving Kudumbashree, who aids us in the drying and packing works, it has become a people’s project. By bringing rice to the market directly, farmers will also get more benefits,” said panchayat president Salim Chemmaruthi. The low price the farmers are being paid by the Civil Supplies Department is a factor in making the farmers and local body think differently.
“We are identifying more land. In the next phase, we will cultivate in 78 hectares. We are also planning to cultivate tapioca in between. Our aim is to bring more land under cultivation. There are close to 250 people working in these fields,” added Salim. The brand will be launched on September 24 in Chemmaruthi. Each packets weighing 10kg rice will be sold at a price higher than the market rate. The Subhiksha Keralam project launched to ensure self-sufficiency in food saw many local bodies taking up initiatives to cultivate crops in the unused land in their limits.