Chakram: The wheel that turned agricultural fortunes

This photo from Olavipe brings a rush of memories to my mind. In the good old days when paddy cultivation was a way of life, this was the time to sow seeds in our area. The Chakram was the critical equipment to control water levels on which the success of the crop depended.

I request you to read Morning After the Storm - Part 1., the Unison-British Council Prize-winning Short Story which covers the changes in Kerala’s agrarian scene during the last seven decades.

Photo by Rejo. Copyright reserved. Click to enlarge.

Noni the medicinal plant, a thriving business

In my post Medicinal Plants: Noni (Morinda citrifolia) planting for profit? I mentioned that I had seen noni plants in Kerala. Recently I came across a plant beside a pond in Olavipe.

The photos of the plant I took (copyright reserved) are reproduced below. Click on them to enlarge.

Also see:

Medicinal Plants: Noni (Morinda citrifolia) planting for profit?

Vanishing haystacks

‘He lay down with the bottle in one hand. After a while he heard the harvest song. It came from a distance but with great clarity. The music was back, carrying the pulse of nature with it. People cared after all. The granaries would fill. Haystacks would rise towards the sky. There would be dancing and games and merrymaking. “Hurry, Neeli, we’re late,” he called out and sat up.’

That is from a short story, ‘Morning after the storm’ (http://abrahamtharakansblog.blogspot.com/2007/04/morning-after-storm-part-1.html).

Once upon a time, haystacks reflected prosperity. The paddy fields would be readied and sown before the rains. In a few months time the crop would be harvested. After threshing and winnowing, the paddy would go into granaries. And the land would dot with haystacks. That was how it was, till recently.

Now the situation is different. Large tracts of rice fields lying uncultivated are a common sight in Kerala today (see: Un-ploughed lies my land ). Many of those who still maintain cows and cowsheds have to buy hay at high prices. The haystack at Olavipe in the picture above is made with bought material.

Does this mean there is less prosperity now? Not really. Generally speaking, people better off today than at any time in the past that I can remember. This morning I found number two-wheelers at the local church. A decade or so back the vehicle population was limited to half a dozen bicycles.

Most people have jobs now. They eat regular meals, dress better, send their children to good schools. It is not at all surprising that the youngsters prefer to work elsewhere and not in the agriculture field. They can afford to buy rice with their earnings.

That too is progress.

Ends.

Photo by me. Click on it for enlarged view.

Also see: Kerala: Left with empty granaries

Kerala: Left with empty granaries

Why are the thousands of granaries in Kerala lying empty? An explosive crisis has now developed in Kuttanad, one of the two major rice growing areas of Kerala (the other is Palakkad). I explained some of the reasons for this in my post, Un-ploughed lies my land.

The immediate problem is that thousands of hectares of paddy in Kuttanad cannot be harvested in time because of shortage of labor and lack of machines. The heavy summer rains have added to the predicament.

Kerala has been facing difficulty regarding rice, its staple food, for some time now. There is an acute shortage and the prices keep rising. Imports of paddy from states like Andhra Pradesh are tapering off due to various reasons.

Local farmers who valiantly try to cultivate either their own or leased land, are in a miserable situation. Reportedly, this season at least two farmers of Kuttanad have committed suicide because they had invested heavily but could not harvest the crop in time.

Why doesn’t Kerala have essential machinery for successful agriculture? The unions (these are the people who fought against mechanization of coir industry and use of computers in offices!) wouldn’t allow them claiming that they would render agricultural labor jobless. Of course, resourceful farmers could obtain permission to use tractors and harvesting machines by properly petitioning the unions!

The ‘loss of jobs’ argument must be a joke today. According to reports, unions claimed there were 15,000 agricultural workers in the area, but only 300 have so far registered in the Collector’s list of persons available for harvesting.

Now frantic efforts are on to get about 250 harvesting machines! Most Keralites would happily drive a tractor but wouldn’t like to get their feet dirtied in the slime of the paddy fields. So they look elsewhere for jobs.

In the 1950s Lambert Mascarenhas published a lovely novel about Goa – ‘Sorrowing Lies My Land’. That title seems appropriate to today’s Kerala. Tobias, the protagonist in the book, says. “Husbands and sons must roam the world over in search of work so that they can send money home to keep their families alive.”

Even as I write this, unharvested paddy is sprouting to waste in the Kuttanad fields.

Ends.

The photo (copyright reserved) of the granary (ara)in our tharavad is by me. Click on it for larger view.

Also see: Kerala architecture – ‘Ara’ in heritage homes

Medicinal Plants: Noni (Morinda citrifolia) planting for profit?

Have you heard of Noni or Indian Mulberry that is US$3 billion business? Common names of this plant include great morinda, beach mulberry, nono, nonu, mengkudu and ach.

The plant which belongs to the Rubiaceae family is a native to India and South East Asia. It spread to Polynesian islands centuries back.

The health claims about noni are amazing. It is supposed to be good in preventing/managing diabetes, cardio-vascular problems, skin blemishes, arthritis, asthma, bone ailments, BP, migraines, AIDS, viruses and infections, impotency, malignancies, pain and hair loss. Several nations have been using noni medically for centuries.

But none of the claims have been proved scientifically so far. One reason for this could be that only in the early 1990s the West became aware of the ‘miracle’ plant. Marketing noni pulp powder in capsule form started in 1992. This was followed by noni juice which is fast gaining popularity in USA and Europe. It appears that certain herbal products do not require Food & Drugs Administration (FDA) clearance in the US. The European Union has approved noni juice as a ‘novel food’ in 2002 without endorsing the health claims.

While the US manufactures most of noni products the major portion of the raw materials come from Polynesia. Now other countries including India are also taking up noni cultivation.

Noni is a shrub that can grow to 20 feet height. Stem cutting is the normal method of propagation though seed germination is also possible. The planting distance is 10-15 feet, say, about 300 plants per acre. Grows well in sunny moist/dry sandy soil and tolerates salinity (hence perhaps the name beach mulberry), and drought. It thrives even in secondary soil.

Noni starts fruiting in 18 months and has a productive life span of 30 to 40 years. The average output is 4 to 8 kg of fruit per month per plant. Other parts of the plant are also useful. But the cultivation is mainly for the potato-sized fruits. The shrub is also effective in protecting beaches and as windbreakers. Noni farming is reportedly a highly profitable venture.

The case of noni in India presents a paradox. The natural growth has been widely destroyed because of the foul smell while the fruits ripen, and for other cultivation. So much so it is on the endangered list now. I have seen this plant in Kerala; nobody bothers about it. Now there is a concentrated effort to popularize noni planting in the country.

I believe that there are agencies that furnish free project reports and offer buy back arrangement. More details about noni planting can be obtained from:

Indian Noni Research Foundation

Research Centre

19 & 20 Bharath Nagar Annex, Medavakkam Road

Sholinganallur, Chennai - 600 119 India

e-mail : info@inrf.org Visit : www.inrf.org

Or you can visit the website of the World Noni Research Foundation : www.worldnoni.org

Ends.

Also see:

Noni the medicinal plant, a thriving business

Emu farming in India

Quo Vadis, Kerala?

My post Onward, Kerala on June 3 was about the book Kerala’s Economy: Crouching Tiger, Sacred Cows, which was a compilation of the papers presented by eminent friends of the State at conference at Trivandrum in 2005. Since that meeting, not much water has flowed down the Nila (Kerala’s historic river Bharathapuzha) because it is a dying river now. But many changes have taken place in Kerala during that period.

On the heels of the State Chief Minister’s attack on the judiciary (In the news today) came the media coverage of a woman leader of the CPI slapping a lady police constable in public at the Capital, Trivandrum, during a demonstration. This happened on the 20^th. She was arrested and taken to the Police Station. Policemen are very clannish when it comes to assaulting a member of the Force.

But this script is different. The State Secretary of the CPI arrived at the Station. Two ministers and a member of the legislature followed him. They pressurized the Sub Inspector and made him release the culprit. Two days later the Chief Minister says he does not know the details! But he tries to justify the action of the politicians! One can imagine what effect this has on the morale of the Police Force.

It appears that no case has been registered against the offender. The Indian Lawyers Congress has appealed to the Governor to remove the two ministers involved. A private petition has been filed in the court. The Nationalist Lawyers Congress has sent a notice to the Director General of Police.

Another interesting news today is that the former Communist leader KR Gowri has sold her paddy fields. She was one of the moving forces behind the land limitation legislation that fragmented large holdings. You know, ‘land to the tillers’ economics. In reality it resulted in drastic drop in rice production in the State. Now a new bill on land is on the anvil and may cause further damage to the economy. It is something like trying to correct one mistake with another mistake.

Gowri’s reported reason for the sale: non-availability and prohibitive cost of labor. Un-ploughed lies my land !

Ends.

Also see: Savage Kerala

Kerala architecture – ‘Ara’ in heritage homes

Ara means an enclosed storage area, often used for threshed grain – paddy in the Kerala context. Landlords who owned and cultivated large areas would have such storehouses near the fields and also an in-house granary to stock un-husked rice for home consumption.

In many old houses the ara faces the entrance as you can see form the photo from our ancestral home shown below. (The decorations are because the picture was taken during the engagement ceremony of my niece Tanya)

This shot by KO Isaac is from the eastern gatehouse. The door of the gatehouse, the entrance to the main building and the door to the ara (in the background) are all in one line. It has something to do with thachusastram (vasthu which means the traditional science of architecture.)

The door opens to what we call aravathukkal pura, but more commonly known as arappura in Kerala. It is a corridor which has doors to the left and the right leading to the other parts of the house and the entrance to the ara (see photo by me below). It is again in line with the front door.

Our ara has two compartments. The smaller one is for nurukkari or table rice and the other for nediyari or coarse rice for the house staff. Now both are empty and we buy rice! Ten years back I stopped paddy cultivation which we were doing regularly, because the Communists imported some outsiders to plant red flags in our fields. They did this alleging that we were leaving our fields fallow!

There is a true anecdote to this. The party men who came in a truck and started a procession called our workers who were transplanting rice saplings in another field to join them. One woman stood up and answered, "Comrades, flags don’t produce rice.” Remarkable, I must say.

Coming back to ara, the entire structure including the floor is in wood. The reason for this is that paddy might spoil if it gets into contact with lime or cement. The ara is about three feet above the floor level of the rest of the house. I suppose this is to prevent permeation of moisture.

Traditionally, ara was taboo to women. They could stand in the arappura and carry away the grain measured out by men, but never step inside the ara!

Ends.

Also see: Un-ploughed lies my land

Kerala architecture: More on nalukettu

Kerala Architecture - Olavipe Heritage Home

Interiors

Emu farming in India

Emu (Dromaius novaehollandiae) is here. Not the wine, but the real thing, the birds. It is the national bird of Australia. (Kookaburra is the National Bird of New South Wales.) Emu, a flightless bird, is also the largest bird in Australia and the second largest in the world after its distant cousin, the ostrich. It can reach up to 6 ft (2m) in height and 66-100 pounds (30-45 kilograms) in weight.

The United States, China and Peru established emu farms sometime back but India started only in 1998. To day emu farms can be found in Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry. Recently, Kerala too has got into the act. In May this year my brother Jacob at Olavipe bought three pairs each of emu chicks and fairly grown up ones, twelve altogether, on a trial basis. Photo of a little one which KO Isaac took at that time is given on the left. The chicks have grown pretty well. Pictures that I took last month are shown below:

Emus may look a bit shaggy but are really cute. And very active. They seem to play to the gallery. Whenever someone goes near the pen, the birds run around, do a bit of dance, and then come and stand near the visitor as if to ask ‘how do you like it?’ There was worry as to how they would withstand the monsoon at Olavipe, which was particularly heavy this year, but the birds came through well.

These birds can adapt to different climatic conditions, from low temperatures to hot locations and can thrive on even lands that are not suited for cultivation. Emu farming is not labor intensive and is compatible with other livestock rearing. The birds are also said to be highly disease resistant. Being heavy eaters, emus consume a lot of plants, and insects like crickets, caterpillars and grasshoppers. The food is supplemented with grain. The life span of the birds is 10-20 years.

Emus are grown commercially mainly for meat, which is low fat and low cholesterol. Almost 95 % of the birds are used for different products. Even the egg shells from which carvings and jewelry are made. And the eggs are beautiful, dark green and about the size of 15 chicken eggs. See the photo by my nephew Antony (PJA Tharakan) reproduced here:

For information on emu farming, you can contact:

Central Poultry Development Organisation

Government of India

Ministry Of Agriculture, Department of Animal Husbandry & Dairying

Aarey Milk Colony, Mumbai - 400 065

Telefax : 91-22-26858515 Telephone:91-22-26858572.
E-Mail : cpbfmum@vsnl.net

Click on photos for enlarged view.

Ends.

Also see:

Medicinal Plants: Noni (Morinda citrifolia) planting for profit?

Un-ploughed lies my land

Un-ploughed lies my land

Want to fill in your paddy fields in Kerala, or leave them uncultivated? You can. Only problem is that you may be put behind the bars for 1-3 years and slapped with a fine of Rs.50,000 to Rs.100,000. That is what a new law on the anvil provides for, according to the newspaper reports. The idea is to prevent the increasing tendency in the State to reclaim rice growing areas for other purposes or leave them unutilized.

No ‘Capitalist’ worth his name would leave an asset non-operative if he can make money out of it. Even nationalized banks (a hang up from ‘socialistic pattern of society’ days) are trying to reduce their non-performing assets (NPA). Why should the Kerala muthalalis (landowning or business magnates) ignore their lands? One reason is sheer capitalistic outlook – there is no money in it. But there is a more valid ground to which the politicians turn a Nelson’s eye.

Even if a fool of a muthalai decides to cultivate his fields incurring loss, out of patriotism or whatever, he still has a problem. There is an acute shortage of workmen. Offering exorbitant wages do not attract labor anymore; very few like to work on land, particularly the rice fields. In major paddy growing areas of Kerala, like Kuttanad and Palakkad, workers and agricultural machinery (for years the left parties fought the introduction of tractors) are imported from neighboring Tamil Nadu. That is likely to stop too because the wages in that State have gone up recently.

By law, a muthalali, or anyone for that matter, can hold only 12 acres of paddy/coconut lands in Kerala – a great comedown from 1000+ acres. Weeds grow in the rice fields which were once the pride of a muthalali. Coconut cultivation is almost on its death bed because of low productivity and uneconomic prices.

After staying a couple days at my cousin, John Tharakan’s home stay (http://www.ayanathouse.com/), Peter Wonacott wrote about the problems of coconut growers in Kerala in The Wall Street Journal (March 10, 2007; Page P5). The title of the article is ‘India's Nuttiest Destination’- meaning coconuts of course!

In the last picture what you see in the foreground is tall grass not rice plants.

Ends.

All photos copyright Karthiki, TP. Click on them for enlarged view.

Also see:

Caste System: Is Kerala still a madhouse?