A brackish water paddy variety, cultivation of which has been practised in the Aghanashini estuary for a long time now, faces the threat of extinction as farmers are complaining of shortage of seeds.
Production of Kari Kagga Batha (paddy) has declined drastically in the last four to five years due to flood conditions caused by problems in maintenance of dikes, resulting in farmers facing a shortage of seeds.
Kari Kagga is cultivated in the tidal wetlands of Kumta in Uttara Kannada district by about 3,000 families. The tidal wetlands in Kumta are called ‘Ghajinis'. There are 25 such Ghajinis, ranging from as small as 11 acres such as Taggina Ghajini to as big as 450 acres such as Manikatta Ghajini. Unit of land parcels owned by families are called Hasigi, and each Hasigi can have 2 acres to 6 acres, depending on the Ghajinis.
Deplorable state
“The 12-km-long bund, built in 1973-74, is in a deplorable state. As many as 16 sluice gates have collapsed, resulting in flooding of the area and subsequent crop loss,” Chandrashekar R. Naik, the headman of the Manikatta Ghajini, told The Hindu .
Besides, silt had to be removed from the wetland channels, he said, and added that farmers were losing interest in Kari Kagga cultivation after having suffered crop loss in the past couple of years.
The result: area under Kari Kagga has come down from about 3,000 acres to about 800 acres, Krishna Prasad of Sahaja Samruddha, a farmers' collective, said.
Kari Kagga cultivation is unique to these Ghajinis, which have a headman. The decision to start sowing is taken at the Koota Vyavasaya Parishat. All the landowning families have to contribute labour in both sowing and harvesting, failure of which attracts penalty. Paddy is cultivated sans fertilizer, and each acre yields about 10 to 15 quintals of paddy.
“While the high tide in the area is at 7.59 ft the dikes are 2 feet lower than this. It becomes difficult for us to drain out water during high tides as sluice gates are not properly functional. When the river water gushes into the area, it needs to be drained out twice a day, which is also difficult,” Mr. Naik pointed out.
Paddy sowing commences in June when salinity level is low with fresh water from the Western Ghats gushing into the Arabian Sea. Paddy harvesting is completed before October-end when the salinity level starts increasing due to the decline in the fresh water inflow.
Prawn cultivation is taken up between October and June.
To contribute to the already existing problem with the dikes, Mr. Naik said, the Department Forests planted mangroves unscientifically, preventing drainage of water from the Ghajinis.
“Though mangroves have their benefits, they should be planted in right places,” Mr. Naik said.
Mr. Krishna Prasad said Kari Kagga could be promoted instead of investing on genetically modified salt-tolerant paddy.
He said that a recent consultative meet organised by the Western Ghats Task Force jointly with Save Our Rice Campaign promised to look into the issues affecting the Aghanashini farmers.
