Soumya Vinayan (Author)
N Lalitha (Author)
Technology's Stories
Volume: 9
Issue: 1
Edition Details: Issue Theme: The Republic of Plants
Physical Details: Digital journal
Language: English
These words from one of the members of the Women’s Group we met at a village in the Ernakulam district of Kerala succinctly summarizes the tenuous status of pokkali agriculture today. Pokkali rice is a traditional rice variety grown in the coastal wetland zones of Kerala (across the districts of Ernakulam, Alleppey, and Thrissur). Both the variety and its mode of cultivation are understood as traditional because pokkali cultivation is one of the oldest surviving traditions of rice cultivation in South India.[1] Pokkali cultivation alternates rice growing and prawn production on the same land. Farmers cultivate rice from June to October when salinity is low and shift to prawn cultivation from November to May as the salinity of the water increases. It is an organic rice cultivation system; the prawn’s excreta becomes the manure for rice cultivation, while the stubble of the paddy becomes fodder for prawn. This form of rotating rice/prawn production is a treasure trove of traditional knowledge and practices and produces a unique and uniquely productive ecosystem. Formerly it was practiced across as many as 25,000 hectares of the Kerala coast. It is now reduced to 7000 hectares, although less than one-third of this area is now under cultivation.[2] For all of its appeal, pokkali cultivation is now in jeopardy. Yet it still has much to offer a world facing climate change and negative consequences of contemporary chemically-enhanced agriculture. This article explores the challenges pokkali cultivation is facing, and how it may yet survive.
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