Kerala - Alappuzha   

Panel suggests makeshift granaries

Staff Reporter

Says these will protect grain from inclement weather in Kuttanad

ALAPPUZHA: The M.S. Swaminathan Commission on the overall development of Kuttanad has mooted temporary shelters near paddy fields in the region to safeguard the harvest from vagaries of the weather till procurement.

A commission team interacted with scientists and senior officials from Alappuzha and Kottayam districts here on Tuesday.

Citing the controversy over the delayed procurement of paddy by the Civil Supplies Department, leading to sprouting of the grain and losses for farmers, S. Bala Ravi, team leader, hoped that the State Government would do the needful to mitigate the woes of Kuttanad farmers, as promised by the Chief Minister and the Ministers. He said the commission was proposing shelters at convenient distances near the fields to allow farmers to store the grain.

"Shelters will be useful since the crop will not be exposed to natural vagaries, like sprouting of paddy that has been reported from Kuttanad.

Moreover, since farmers are facing problems in transporting the crop to designated mills and also because of high loading costs, such shelters for temporary storage will help. However, this should not mean that officials can relax and procure the crop whenever they want to," Dr. Ravi said.

Earlier, after recording suggestions from officials, including District Collector C.K. Balakrishnan, Dr. Ravi said the "seesawing" nature of the Kuttanad climate could be confronted with short-term seed varieties so that the farmer would not lose out on cultivation time owing to unseasonal rain. Focus should be given on development of such varieties.

The commission asked for suggestions on introducing a paddy-based crop calendar, which would take into consideration the agricultural and ecological situations of Kuttanad. It would have to look at how the Thanneermukkom barrage could be closed only for the minimum number of days.

The interaction centred on the possibilities of setting up a centralised authority for Kuttanad, reduction of chemical use in agriculture, scope, provision and maintenance of mechanisation in agriculture and post-harvest issues.

Some of the officials, citing moves for partition of the 24,000-kayal here, which, at 2,400 acres, is the State's largest paddy production unit, said there could several dangers involved if the division was done without a proper insight.

"There are several people, including some from North India, who have bought land there. They could be eyeing construction of resorts there," an official cautioned.

Dr. Ravi said, "The interaction was fruitful because we got a lot of inputs on financial limitations, ongoing programmes, systemic deficiencies like lack of insurance for farmers and so on. We will be integrating all these into our report."

The commission will hold a meeting on "Kuttanad ecology — issues and solutions" at the Alappuzha Collectorate at 10 a.m. on Wednesday.

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