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Kuttanad set for record paddy yield

ALAPPUZHA: Defying expectations, after untimely summer rain wreaked havoc in Kuttanad, the ‘puncha’ yield here might set records, Agriculture Minister Mullakkara Ratnakaran said here on Sunday.

Addressing a press conference at the District Collectorate, the Minister said the Civil Supplies Department had already procured 58,945 tonnes of paddy from 484 padasekharams where harvest was completed.

With around 3,000 hectares spread over 54 padasekharams remaining to be harvested, the yield could go well above the expected yield of 60,000 tonnes this season.

A Government Order would be issued on Monday fixing the procurement price for damaged paddy.

The department had so far procured 9,198.45 quintals of damaged/sprouted paddy while around 500 quintals remained to be procured.

The Minister, who along with Coir and Cooperation Minister G. Sudhakaran, distributed Rs.50,000 each to the kin of three farmers who committed suicide and that of one farmer who died on his field during harvest, said the government would take over the debts of these farmers and pay the banks the outstanding amount.

Arrangements would also be made to extend interest-free loans to these families through cooperative banks. In Kuttanad alone, the government had disbursed an interim relief of Rs.1.25 crore to 3,214 farmers so far, Mr. Ratnakaran said.

With unpredictability of weather playing a huge role in Kerala’s agriculture misery, the State government was looking to minimise such damage by setting in place a system to issue timely warnings to farmers.

The Centre had been requested to allow a full-fledged weather forecasting station in Alappuzha or Thrissur for the purpose. The issue would be discussed at a weather experts’ workshop to be held in Hyderabad from May 25, he said.

Once this station was in place and the M.S. Swaminathan Commission’s Kuttanad package was approved, an agricultural calendar would be prepared and steps to systematise cultivation would be taken. Additional staff from the Agriculture Department would be deployed in Kuttanad, Upper Kuttanad, Palakkad and the Thrissur kole fields during the agricultural season to address staff shortage, he said, adding that Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar had promised approval of the Kuttanad package in the forthcoming Union Cabinet meeting.

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