Work on the first phase to improve the conditions in Ernakulam district’s largest rice producing farm collective Thottara Punja is expected to begin early next month.
Though the project, aimed cutting the cost of agricultural production, were officially inaugurated in July this year, works are yet to begin largely because of the rainy season, said the Chairman of Kerala Land Development Corporation Benny Kakkad on Monday.
He said that the tendering process had been completed and there would be no delay in starting the work with the weather conditions improving.
Water logging in the fields was one of the key reasons holding up the works, said Mr Kakkad.
Thottara Punja extends over the Amballoor and Edakkattuvayal panchayats in Ernakulam district and Velloor in Kottayam district. The farm collective is spread over a total of about 1,500 acres.
The first phase of the work, which has been allotted more than Rs.15 crore, will mostly be confined to about 800 acres of the farm collective in Amballoor panchayat.
The Kerala Land Development Corporation is executing the work with funds received from the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development.
Building of bunds, walls, ramps for farm equipment to enter the farm fields and mechanical shutters are among the new improvements to be made for the farm collective.
President of the Amballoor panchayat K.F. Kuriakose said that rice cultivation would be possible this season in more than 60 per cent of the fields.
