Pokkali, Kerala’s very own coastal rice variety, is traditional, tasty, and healthy. But there is another reason why Ernakulam’s pokkali fields and cultivation need to be conserved. They support as many as 174 of the 516 bird species in the State.
The online citizen science platform, eBird, where birdwatchers upload their daily birdwatching data, has listed 174 bird species (from 430 checklists) since 2011 in pokkali fields near the Kadamakkudy rice field alone.
“We see a lot of bird species in pokkali fields, be it in the Kadamakkudy area or Kandakadavu and Kalathara regions near Thoppumpady - Palluruthy,” says Vishnupriyan Kartha, secretary of Cochin Natural History Society which organises bird watching sessions in the area on a regular basis.
Species sighted in pokkali fields include the commonly-seen egret species, rare ospreys, migratory birds like sandpipers and plovers, and the difficult-to-spot black-capped kingfisher, he says.
Studying birds
Between 2006 and 2009, researchers at Thiruvalla’s Mar Thoma College (MTC) surveyed five-hectare pokkali fields for bird diversity at Kadamakudy, Kuzhuppilly, Kumbalangy, Edavanakad, and Cheranelloor in Ernakulam district. Of the 119 bird species they counted, 84 are resident species such as the Indian cormorant and stork-billed kingfisher.
The 35 other bird species are migratory, and they arrive in the tropics during winter to avoid the extreme cold of their natural breeding grounds.
Thirty of the migratory bird species the team recorded are transcontinental migrants flying in from as far as Siberia and Eurasia, including the long-legged black-tailed godwit and the garganey (a small wild duck).
According to John George M., former professor at MTC, who led the research, the pokkali wetlands also supports near-threatened bird species like the oriental darter, black-headed ibis, and spot-billed pelican.
Need for conservation
Pokkali is cultivated along the coast in the districts of Ernakulam, Alappuzha and Thrissur. In these paddy fields, rice cultivation occurs only for a few months of the year, after which the fallow fields function as shrimp or fish farms. Pokkali is considered to be one of the only “naturally-produced” organic rice varieties of Kerala, for it does not require fertilisers or pesticides.
Though pokkali farming was extremely common in the district, only about 10% of approximately 10,000 hectares of pokkali land is under cultivation, say officials of the Rice Research Station at Vyttila.
Around 50% of this area is now under fish and prawn monoculture, with rice cultivation being discarded.
“Pokkali fields need to be urgently conserved, and farmers should be encouraged to cultivate the crop,” says Deepa K.M., who conducted the study as part of her doctoral thesis. “For ease and profits, many farmers are now turning away from the traditional method of cultivation by not cultivating rice and farming only shrimp. Our work shows that both are required to sustain high bird diversity,” she adds.
