Kerala - Alappuzha   

Harvest a distant dream for the Kuttanad farmer

— Photo: H. Vibhu

PLAYING TRAUNT: An erratic rainfall has affected the hopes of paddy farmers in Kuttanad. A farmer spraying pesticides on his field, hoping that the second crop of the year will pay him good dividents.

ALAPPUZHA: Even as political parties are slugging it out over credits of the Swaminathan Commission’s Kuttanad Package, the farmer in Kuttanad is still caught in a dilemma over his survival.

Three months after paddy farmers here paid the National Seed Corporation for seeds for the puncha crop, nearly 75 per cent of them are yet to get a single seed. Usually, the farmer gets the seeds by September last or the first week of October and the crop is harvested by March.

According to sources, the price of one kilogram of seed is Rs.16.50 and after subsidies, the farmer has to pay Rs.9.50. It is estimated that farmers in Kuttanad have paid upfront for 18,000 quintals of seed.

The farmers say that the prolonged rain had already delayed the preparations. With the seeds also not coming, the entire agricultural calendar is set to be upset this year. If the harvest is delayed beyond April, the Thanneermukkom Barrage will be opened and the yield will be affected, they say.

Fr. Thomas Peelianickal of the Kuttanad Vikasana Samithi pointed out that the M.S. Swaminathan Commission had asserted that efforts should be to complete the harvest by February.

“Late sowing will also affect the yield. The entire rhythm of the season has been disturbed. Who will own the responsibility for this?” he asks.

For the farmer, the delay in the arrival of seeds is not the only problem. Crucial bunds in C-Block and D-Block (Aarayiram Kayal and Puthiya Aarayiram Kayal) and the Mangalam Manikyamangalam Kayal were breached by heavy flow of water from the high ranges.

Rough estimates say that at least 2,840 acre of land, all prepared for cultivation, were damaged.

“We will now have to dry these lands and prepare it again if we have to sow. That will take at least two to three weeks and by then, it will be too late,” C.K. Thankappan, one of the farmers hit hard by the bund breaches said.

“If something is not done about these bunds, we will be facing a shortage of 57,000 quintals of paddy crop this year, which is roughly equivalent to Rs.5 crore. More than 1,500 farmers and an equal number of labourers will be affected by this. Only political will can do something at this late juncture,” Fr. Peelianickal summed up the fears of farmers.

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