About
- Pokkali is an heritage heirloom rice crop cultivated in the coastal regions of Kerala, including Ezhikkara, Ernakulam, and supported by Palliyakal Cooperative Service Bank (PCSB).
- Pokkali is an ancient farming practice where one season of rice farming is alternated with another season of prawn culture.
- The prawn seedlings, which swim in from the sea and the backwaters after the rice harvest, feed on the leftovers of the harvested crop.
- The rice crop, which gets no other fertiliser or manure, draws nutrients from the prawns’ excrement and other remnants.
- Rice farming and prawn farming are mutually complementary.
- Pokkali has an excellent gene pool which is very useful for salinity tolerance.
History
- The story of Pokkali begins with a great flood that washed the seeds of this prolific grain from the Western Ghats to the low lying saline plains.
- There she evolved as a strong contender against the ravages of nature, to nurture the communities that lived harmoniously with the farming of Pokkali.
- Pokkali is the oldest variety of rice in Kerala which has a tradition of at least 3000 years in rice cultivation.
- It is also among the oldest known crops cultivated by organic farming methodologies in the world.
Source: TH
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