Shortage of labourers hits pokkali farming in Kadamakkudy
The Hindu
Demand to bring harvesting work under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme
The shortage of hands for harvesting has emerged as one of the biggest challenges for pokkali rice farmers in Kadamakkudy.
Around 85 out of the potential 100 hectares in the panchayat have been under cultivation this year. However, the workforce woefully falls short of the ideal 200-300 workers for completing the harvesting within the extremely narrow window of 7-10 days.
“|With the new generation staying away from farming, getting adequate labourers for harvesting remains a struggle. Since harvesting has to be done standing almost hip-deep in water, the workers cannot be engaged beyond noon, further delaying the completion of harvesting,” said Mary Shilpa, District Agriculture Officer.
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When fed into Latin, pusilla comes out denoting “very small”. The Baillon’s crake can be missed in the field, when it is at a distance, as the magnification of the human eye is woefully short of what it takes to pick up this tiny creature. The other factor is the Baillon’s crake’s predisposition to present less of itself: it moves about furtively and slides into the reeds at the slightest suspicion of being noticed. But if you are keen on observing the Baillon’s crake or the ruddy breasted crake in the field, in Chennai, this would be the best time to put in efforts towards that end. These birds live amidst reeds, the bulrushes, which are likely to lose their density now as they would shrivel and go brown, leaving wide gaps, thereby reducing the cover for these tiddly birds to stay inscrutable.