Kochi: Farmers try new variety of pokkali

KOCHI: Pokkali rice cultivation in the district has been deeply hit by the pandemic-related lockdown this year. The paddy crop, which is usually cultivated from April 15 to November 15, is missing from fields this year. Only a few farmers in Chellanam and Kadamakudy are cultivating it.


Interestingly, this year, this small group of farmers are cultivating a new variety Vyttila-11 which is a hybrid of Jyothi-8 and the traditional pokkali.

“This was on farm trials in our station at Vyttila. We have given it to farmers for cultivating this season. However, because many of these places, including Chellanam, are containment zones, we haven’t been able to visit the farms and check out the crop,” said Dr A K Sreelatha, head of rice research station, Vyttila, KAU. Vyttila-11 is expected to give better yield of around five tonnes per hectare.

“The difference between the two is that Chettiviruppu is tall and keeps growing taller when water level rises while Vyttila-11 is a dwarf variety. We have to see if it can withstand the increasing water levels in Chellanam. With fish farmers not pumping out water regularly, our crops get submerged. Agriculture department officials should take meter readings of three motors and petti-para installed for the purpose to see if the padashekaram officials are pumping out excess water,” said Francis Kalathunkal, general secretary, Pokkali samrakshna samithi who is also cultivating the crop there.

Last year, the entire crop was destroyed in floods while seeds from the previous year did not sprout. This led to farmers trying out a new variety from RRS-Vyttila.

Kalathunkal said while Keralites have been ignoring and neglecting this traditional crop, there is a demand for it in West Bengal. “I got a call from farmers in South 24 Parganas district in West Bengal who wanted to try out the salt-tolerant variety because of heavy seawater incursion into paddy fields after cyclone Amphan hit the state in May. "I sent around 5kg of Vyttila-11. If it succeeds there, more farmers would start cultivating it,” he added.

He said every year, paddy farmers in Chellanam had to fight over cultivating pokkali.