Minister’s participation in pokkali rice harvest at Chellanam irks a few

The harvest festival took place in fields inundated with saline water purposely, alleges a farmers’ group

Participating in the pokkali paddy harvest festival at the Maruvakkad paddy collective in Chellanam panchayat on Saturday, Minister for Agriculture P. Prasad said a company would be launched in two months to sell local farm produce and value-added products.

The company will follow the Cochin International Airport Limited-model with farmers’ participation. It will be known as ‘Kapco’. The focus of the company will be on helping farmers realise the kind of profit being made by big companies, the Minister said.

‘Maruvakkad brand’

A communication from the Public Relations department (PRD) quoted the Minister as saying that it must be possible to market rice produced at Maruvakkad under the ‘Maruvakkad brand’.

Mr. Prasad tried to put controversies at rest explaining the rising demand for pokkali rice. He stressed the need for sustaining pokkali fields.

The Minister said it should be possible to address local issues even as more areas should come under the unique paddy cultivation. He added that letting saline water in and out of pokkali fields should be done in such a manner that houses in the vicinity are not affected.

Meanwhile, a farmers’ group, which had vociferously protested against what it alleged as attempts to sabotage the ‘one rice, one fish’ yearly cycle in pokkali fields, took exception to the Minister’s participation in the harvest festival. “The harvest festival is a sham. It took place in more than 100 acres of fields that had been inundated with saline water purposely,” alleged Francis Kalathungal of Pokkali Samrakshana Samiti.

Mr. Kalathungal claimed that it was inappropriate on the part of the Minister to participate in the festival in a field that was destroyed on purpose. The Minister will only encourage law-breakers through his action, the group said.

V4People Party, a political outfit, alleged that the event had exposed the Minister. Party president Nipun Cherian said in a statement that the harvest fest had been organised in a field, which had been inundated with saline water and had no rice to be harvested.