After paddy farming and water tourism, the next thing to come up on the banks of the Kodoor river, which was restored recently through a series of conservation activities, is a rural market.
Kadavoram, one of the local tourist destinations recently opened by the Meenachil-Meenanthara-Kodoor river-linking programme, will soon turn into a trading place for the local fishermen and farmer collectives every evening.
The items on offer include indigenous fish and vegetable varieties, alongside a rare range of traditional utensils.
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According to K. Anil Kumar, work is on to constitute local collectives of farmers and fishermen.
The idea is to offer them a solution to the logistical problems of distance to wider markets, remoteness, and lack of infrastructure.
“The chance to establish a market at Kadavoram is very exciting as it is at this point that the river begins to transform beyond its chocked riverbed and silted up canals,” he said.
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Favourite hangout
A few hundred meters along the Vakathanam-Panachikkad road, the destination is fast becoming a favourite evening hangout.
The opening of this rural market will help producers connect directly with their buyers by avoiding intermediaries, he added. The project takes a cue from the traditional rural markets that thrived along the riverbanks of the region when a majority of the goods were transported through water routes.
The waterways along the Kodoor river lost its significance with the expansion of the road networks and they fell into an even sorrier state over the last decades with the canals silting up and they got levelled overtime. The river-linking project, through works taken up in different phases over the last couple of years, stabilised its canals and even dredged the channels. Panachikkad panchayat president E.R. Sunil Kumar will officially launch the market at a function to be held here on March 10. Mr. Anil Kumar will present the report.