31 paddy shelters to be set up in three districts

ALAPPUZHA: With a view to minimizing the damage caused by unexpected
rain and other natural calamities on the paddy fields of Kuttanad, the
State government has decided to set up as many as 31 temporary paddy
shelters in Alappuzha, Kottayam and Pathanamthitta
districts.Announcing this here on Saturday after a review meeting on
preparations of the official machinery from the three districts for
the 'puncha' crop harvest, Agriculture Minister Mullakkara Ratnakaran
said the State Warehousing Corporation would open 20 temporary
shelters in Alappuzha, eight in Kottayam and three in
Pathanamthitta.The meeting, which gave priority to the preparations in
the Upper Kuttanad belt spread over the three districts, also decided
to set up three task forces in each of the districts, comprising
students and members of the National Service Scheme (NSS),
Kudumbashree units, Nehru Yuva Kendra and other local service
organizations.These task forces, to be led by the respective District
Collectors, would be given 3,000 hand-reapers to help farmers in the
harvest, Mr. Ratnakaran said.The Minister, who said that the 'puncha'
acreage in the three districts had gone up by around 5,000 hectares,
said the State Meteorological Department had agreed to provide the
District Collectors with daily weather updates, with a forecast of at
least five days in advance.A high-level team would also visit the
Paddy Processing Research Centre, Thanjavur and also convene a meeting
at Alappuzha in January on modes of processing wet paddy and the
possibilities of value added products from such crop.With the October
rains upsetting the agriculture calendar for the 'puncha' crop, the
Minister said the district-level monitoring committees with Alappuzha
Collector V.K. Balakrishnan at its helm was making efforts to ensure
that the harvest process was not disrupted.Measures to ensure adequate
fertilizer and the operation of the Thanneermukkom Barrage shutters
too were discussed in detail, Mr. Ratnakaran added.Agriculture
Director Tinku Biswal, Kottayam District Collector P. Venugopal,
Principal Agriculture Officer (in-charge) Jose Joseph and other
officials were present. Earlier, the Minister visited the Rani,
Chithira and Marthandam kayal paddy fields along with Mr.
Balakrishnan.

The Hindu,7th December 2008