Kerala - Kochi   

April 15 to be celebrated as Pokkali Day

KOCHI: To promote the cultivation of Pokkali, the organic rice variety unique to the central-coastal areas of the State, April 15 will be celebrated as Pokkali Day in Ernakulam district. The day is important for Pokkali farmers as it is on this day that the rice season begins in the Pokkali farms, after the prawn breeding ends on April 14.

Meetings, seminars and melas will be organised in the areas where Pokkali farming is practised – Kumbalangi, Chellanam, Njarackal, Edavanakkad, Nayarambalam, Vypeen, Palluruthi, Varappuzha, Cheranallur, Kadamakkudy, Kottuvalli, Ezhikkara and Chittattukara.

The celebration, organised in partnership with the Krishi Bhavans and the local panchayats, aims at encouraging farmers to stick to Pokkali cultivation, district principal agricultural officer N. Vijayan said. Though Pokkali is cultivated in the central-costal Kerala, it is most active in Ernakulam’s Vypeen island and the Kadamakkudi group of islets.

The Pokkali rice season begins by mid-April and ends by mid-November. Rest of the year, the farmlands are used for prawn breeding. Usually, the farmlands are leased out for a period of five months for prawn breeding. The current rent for an acre is nearly Rs.13,000. The lease period ends on April 14.

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