Conservationists sceptical about promise of ₹10-crore support for pokkali rice farming

Farmers express doubts about funding for pokkali rice cultivation infrastructure, highlighting challenges faced at the ground level.

A group of farmers working to conserve pokkali rice farming has expressed doubts about Agriculture Minister P. Prasad’s recent announcement that ₹10 crore would be made available for building pokkali rice cultivation infrastructure.

“At the ground level, it will make little impact,” said Francis Kalathunkal of Pokkali Samrakshana Samithi, which has worked hard to maintain pokkali cultivation in the coastal districts of Alappuzha, Ernakulam, and Thrissur.

He said the situation in Chellanam Maruvakkad paddy collective was an example of how, at the ground level, farmers were afraid to risk their money on pokkali rice farming due to uncertainties about field drainage and the influence of the saline aquaculture lobby in sabotaging rice cultivation in pokkali fields.

However, Pokkali Land Development Agency (PLDA) vice chairman Laju P.V. said the support announced by the Agriculture Minister would help pokkali farmers. He added that issues such as damaged sluices and weakened bunds had plagued pokkali fields, which are now estimated to have declined to around 2,025 hectares.

He also stressed that the PLDA had insisted on clear orders to avoid confusion about the crop cycle. There was also a demand from some quarters to declare fields where rice cultivation had not taken place for 10 years as fallow land to allow saline fish farming. This proposal, too, had been strongly opposed, Mr. Laju said.

He said the pokkali seed shortage had been addressed by the rice research station at Vyttila, which had developed pokkali paddy seeds. However, the reduced height of the plants needed to be examined to address farmers’ concerns, he added. He also called for a detailed study on bird attacks on paddy fields during the season.

The Minister had said at a meeting of pokkali stakeholders that, along with developing basic infrastructure for the growth of pokkali cultivation, farmers should also be ensured a remunerative price to keep them engaged in cultivation.