Kerala - Kochi   

Pokkali cultivation gets a new lease of life

Staff Reporter

KOCHI: Pokkali cultivation in the district is set to get a new lease of life with first of the harvesting machines likely to roll into the pokkali fields in September this year.

District Collector A.P.M. Mohammed Hanish, who heads the Pokkali Land Development Society, said that Kerala Agro Machinery Corporation Limited (Kamco), Angmaly, agreed to prepare a proto-type of the harvesting machine by the time the present pokkali crop would be ready for harvesting.

The introduction of mechanisation in harvesting one of Kerala’s most traditional crops comes in the year when the district administration is observing 2007 as the year of pokkali cultivation with extension of the crop in areas which have been lying fallow.

The drive to spread the cultivation of pokkali was intensified during the season, said an official of the Agriculture Department.

Seed cultivation was spread over 20 hectares in the district using the Vyttila 4 and 6 varieties of pokkali rice, said the official. The 20 hectares had been spread equally over Kadamakkudy and Njarakkal panchayats, the official said.

Pokkali cultivation in the district received special support during the season under the Kerala Development Plan. Distribution programme.

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