The four-day Vayanattukulavan Theyyam Festival will begin at Kanhangad on May 3.
Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan will inaugurate a harvest festival at the Thulichery paddy fields here organised in connection with the event on March 11.
The rice from the paddy fields will be used to feed the faithful attending the Theyyam festival organised by the Kottachery Pattarakanni Raashi Devasthanam, organising committee chairman K. Venurajan Nambiar told the media here.
The committee had sought assistance of the Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Agriculture Department, and the Central Plantation Crops Research Institute (CPCRI) to ensure the availability of vegetables and other items to feed the faithful expected to turn up for the event.
Interestingly, paddy cultivation was taken up on the 22-acre Thulichery paddy fields that had been left fallow for over 22 years.
The committee anticipates a harvest of 40 quintals of paddy, which is expected to yield 20 quintals of rice. The organisers are hopeful of selling the surplus 10 quintals rice after meeting the requirements of the festival.
Buoyed by the guidance and financial support of ₹3 lakh offered by the Agriculture Department and the CPCRI, the committee, under the aegis of the devasthanam, has decided to cultivate the paddy field, owned by 22 individuals, every year
Agriculture Minister V.S. Sunil Kumar inaugurated the sowing of the field on November 6 last year. Hybrid “Shreya” rice variety developed by the Moncompu Rice Research Station was used in the cultivation.
CPCRI Director P. Chowdappa, Kanhangad municipal chairman V.V. Rameshan, and Ajanur grama panchayat president P. Damodaran will attend the harvest festival, which will be presided over by Revenue Minister E. Chandrasekharan.
