Chief Minister Oommen Chandy will launch the harvest of the ‘puncha’ crop at the paddy fields of the Chithira kayal (lake) on Sunday. It was after a gap of two decades that paddy cultivation was resumed in the region four months ago.
Agriculture Minister K.P. Mohanan will preside over the function that will be held on the premises of the Chithira church in Kainakary. Kodikunnil Suresh, K.C. Venugopal, MPs, and Thomas Chandy, MLA, will also participate in the function.
District Collector N. Padmakumar said that around 600 to 700 metric tonnes of paddy was expected from the 100 hectares of land where farming was undertaken. The paddy that has been cultivated belonged to the ‘Uma’ variety of rice. An amount of Rs. 3.69 crore had been sanctioned by the government in the 13{+t}{+h}Finance Commission on the basis of a detailed project report. Prior to the launch of the cultivation, the outer bunds for the fields were constructed under the Kuttanad Package. Nearly Rs. 91 lakh was utilised for the electrification of the Rani and Chithira lake paddy fields. The various stages of the paddy farming were supervised by an expert panel.
Mr. Padmakumar said the vegetable cultivation that was launched in 10 acres of the fields turned out to be a failure. The failure to test the soil in a scientific manner was cited as the cause of the setback of the initiative.
The endeavour was undertaken by the Agriculture Department, Kerala State Horticultural Products Development Corporation (Horticorp) and the Agricultural Technology Management Agency (ATMA).
Principal Agricultural Officer R. Geethamani, Rani paddy cluster president A.D. Kunjachan, Chithira paddy cluster president V. Mohandas and secretary Jose John Venganthara were also present at the press conference.
