Paddy harvest nearly complete in major holdings in Ernakulam

Govt. has exempted farm operations from lockdown

The puncha paddy harvest in major holdings near Piravom, Nedumbassery and Mulanthuruthy in the district is near complete with the government exempting paddy farm operations from the purview of the lockdown being observed against the spread of COVID-19.

Though there had been a brief shortage of harvesting and baling machines, the problems had been overcome and the harvest was near complete in most of the places, said a senior official of the Agriculture Department on Monday. Around 700 hectares of paddy fields in the district were nearing completion of harvest for the season.

The declaration of the lockdown had resulted in a shortage of harvesting machines as some of the operators, who were usually engaged during the harvest season, had returned to their hometowns in Tamil Nadu.

However, local agro service centres had stepped in to fill the gap with both machines and operators, said an official in Nedumbassery. The official said that around 35 hectares had been harvested in Parakkadavu and another 10 hectares remained at Nedumbassery. There should be no problem in completing the harvest as machines and operators are available. The problem in Parakkadavu was that the first machine that was deployed developed some trouble and later four more machines were brought in, the official added. Around 200 hectares of paddy fields spread over Amballoor and Edakkattuvayal, that includes the Thottarapuncha holdings, have been harvested completely. The initial problem was that the machine operators had expressed fears over police action against those who stepped out of their homes. However, paddy farming was later exempted from the lockdown and harvest operations were near complete, said an official.

Over 400 hectares of paddy crop spread over Thirumaradi, Ramamangalam, Elanji, Pampakkuda and Koothattukulam are being harvested without any problem. There was some uncertainty initially regarding harvest because of the lockdown. However, the issue had been resolved, said an official in Piravom. Shortage of machine operators was not a problem since the agro service centre had offered its machines and equipment.

An official said there was some problem in getting seed farm land at Okkal and Aluva harvested. But, the Aluva farm is now being harvested manually and the Okkal farm land, around five hectares, is being harvested using machines.