Njattumkandam

Paddy cultivation is an important one for the farmers of Kerala. Generally the cultivation starts along with the Monsoon and ends in December when there is only one harvest per year. Using advanced seeds, developed by scientific methods, there can be two or three harvest per year and the timings vary accordingly. The cultivation in odd times using these seeds are called “Punchakrishi” and the paddy field which is artificially irrigated for such purpose is called “Punchapadam”.

The paddy cultivation cycle is interesting to learn. It starts with making the seed ready for sawing in the paddy field. The seed is made ready by dipping it in water mixed with cow-dung and keeping it in the same wet sack for one day. Next day the seeds will be sprouted.

These sprouted seeds are then thrown and spread in the specially ploughed and kept ready area called “Njattumkandam”. (Vithuvithaykkal) Once the seeds are of enough growth, the rice seedlings (“Njaru”) are transplanted to the other paddy fields. This process is called “Njaru nadeel”. The expertise of the tribal people in Kerala to do this process is worth mentioning.

The paddy fields should have enough water in it till the rice is full grown and it is a tedious job to keep enough water in the field. Crabs will make holes from one paddy field to a low lying one, so that the water will start flowing though the hole made and it can wait for its prey in the flowing water to have a nice meal. But for the farmer, his duty is to find these holes dig by the crab and patch it so that the water is preserved in the fields.

Paddy cultivation holds an important role in the preservation of underground water. In recent times, farmers are getting used to plant arecanut and plantain in paddy fields since paddy cultivation is not that profitable. Paddy fields being used for other purposes are now imposing a huge threat to the underground water refilling process, since other than paddy, all other cultivation in paddy fields require no water to be hold in the fields, so the natural rainwater harvesting process is being disrupted.

I will be back with the photos of the paddy harvesting season, in the month of December.