‘Kani vellari’ harvest begins in Kanjikuzhy

The vegetable’s price is expected to go up further with the festival of Vishu just around the corner

Kanjikuzhy in Alappuzha is turning out to be a major producer of ‘kani vellari’ (golden cucumber).

With the Vishu festival around the corner, farmers in Kanjikuzhy and nearby areas who cultivated kani vellari on several acres nowadays are busy harvesting their produce.

‘Kani Vellari’ is one of the items used in arranging ‘Vishu Kani’.

“Around 200 farmers in Kanjikuzhy grama panchayat have cultivated kani vellari on around 25 acres in the ongoing season. Many of them have already harvested the produce based on orders received,” says M. Santhosh Kumar, vice president, Kanjikuzhy grama panchayat.

Haridas P.M., Madhu P.S. and Ramachandran, all three hailing from Kanjikuzhy, harvested 2,000 kg of ‘Kani Vellari’ from their farm earlier this week. “We jointly cultivated kani vellari, kani mathan, pottu vellari, etc. among other vegetables in an organic way on two acres of land. There is good demand for kani vellari and we sold the entire produce to wholesale dealers at ₹20 per kg,” says Mr. Haridas.

The demand for kani vellari is so high that Kanjikuzhy farmers received pre-orders for the item even before its farming began. The vegetable’s price is expected to go up further as the festival nears.

Besides kani vellari, farmers in Kanjikuzhy, a vegetable-sufficient village known for its organic produce, have cultivated ‘kani mathan’ (small pumpkin), which is also used in preparing ‘Vishu Kani’. Up until recently, kani mathan was brought from Tamil Nadu.