Category Archives: Nature

Call to exploit commercial, medicinal potential of njavara rice

Agriculture, Business & Economy, Nature, Science & Technology

The need for proper branding and planning of marketing strategies has been highlighted by the speakers at the State level workshop on “Prospects and possibilities of njavara rice farming”.
The need for proper branding and planning of marketing strategies has been highlighted by the speakers at the State level workshop on “Prospects and possibilities of njavara rice farming”.

Expert moots branding unique variety of Kerala rice

The need for proper branding and planning of marketing strategies has been highlighted by the speakers at the State level workshop on “Prospects and possibilities of njavara rice farming”.

The workshop organised by the Centre for IP Protection under the Kerala Agricultural University (KAU) took note of the mismatch between the high demand for quality njavara rice on one hand and the difficulty faced by genuine njavara farmers in selling their produce on the other.

KAU Registrar P.V. Balachandran, in his inaugural address, stressed the need to validate scientific data on the medicinal value of njavara to convince the international society. “Even though njavara has been traditionally used for treatment of multiple maladies and there are reports on its capability to thwart cancer, it has to be validated with scientific data. Medicinal rice is the unique product of Kerala. Ensuring universal acceptance, proper marketing strategies and product diversification are the best options for sustaining njavara rice farming,” he said. T.R. Gopalakrishnan, Director of Research, in his presidential address, called for collaboration between the KAU and the Ayurvedic research institutions to identify the genetic elements responsible for the medicinal properties of native varieties like njavara and pokkali.

“An action plan to encourage cultivation of these varieties and spread awareness of their qualitative superiority and value should be evolved,” he said.

Dr. Ramankutty Warrier, chief medical officer, Vydyarathnam Ayurveda Foundation, Thycattussery, explained the medical applications of njavara rice.

Dr.Warrier detailed the different treatments using njavara and the properties of which were exploited in dealing with different diseases. Njavara should always be grown organically, he said.

Technical sessions on “GI status of njavara”, “Cultivation practices of njavara” and “Marketing possibilities of njavara” were held as part of the workshop. It was attended by farmers, traders and industrialists from different parts of the State.

source: http://www.thehindu.com  / The Hindu / Home> News> National> Kerala / by Staff Reporter / Thrissur – March 12th, 2015

Cultivating organic spices in the backyard

Agriculture, Arts,Culture & Entertainment, Nature

An expert demonstrates how to prepare organic fertilizers during a training programme organised by the National Horticulture Mission on the CWRDM campus at Kunnamangalam in the city. / The Hindu
An expert demonstrates how to prepare organic fertilizers during a training programme organised by the National Horticulture Mission on the CWRDM campus at Kunnamangalam in the city. / The Hindu

Along with vegetables, spices also need to be cultivated organically, say experts.

Spreading awareness among people about the importance of producing toxin-free spices through organic cultivation was the main thrust of a training programme in homestead water management and organic spice cultivation organised by the National Horticulture Mission in collaboration with the Centre for Water Resources Development and Management (CWRDM) on its campus at Kunnamangalam here.

Around 60 housewives, who are members of the farmers club aided by the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD), participated in the two-day training programme, which was inaugurated by the Kunnamangalam MLA P.T.A. Raheem on Monday.

Water resources

In various sessions, scientists as well as experts from the centre and the Agricultural Department spoke on how to go about managing the available water resources in a common household for the cultivation of essential spices including ginger, turmeric and pepper.

E. Abdul Hameed, Technical officer of CWRDM, talked about the things to be done while cultivating spices in the backyard.

While CWRDM scientist Dinesh Kumar spoke about the role of spices in the protection of health, K.R Prasannakumar, another expert from the centre, spoke on the role of soil fertility and use of organic fertilizers for spices cultivation.

P. Vikraman, former Principal Agricultural Officer, demonstrated on how to prepare organic fertilizers and pesticides.

The scientists also clarified various doubts raised by the participants during the programme.

One kg of ginger and turmeric rhizomes each as well as five saplings of pepper were distributed free to the participants at the end of the session. CWRDM executive director N.B. Narasimha Prasad presided over the function. CWRDM Training Education and Extension Division (TEED) head Kamalam Joseph and NABARD District Development manager K.P. Padmakumar among others spoke. Details about organic spices cultivation can be had from the organisers. Ph: 9447276177.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Kozhikode / by Jabir Musthari / Kozhikode – March 04th, 2015

Reigning Queen of Kerala Honeypots

Agriculture, Business & Economy, Green Initiatives & Environment, Nature

Aleyamma Siby |Ratheesh Sundaram
Aleyamma Siby |Ratheesh Sundaram

It is 9 pm. Outside their house at Panathady in Kasaragod district in Kerala, Aleyamma and her husband Siby are hurriedly placing beehives inside a van. Later, they climb in and the van sets out towards the Coorg district in Karnataka, which is only 30 km away. Once there, they quickly place the hives in three-foot-high stands, below trees, at a distance of three metres. “We have to do this before the sun comes up,” says Aleyamma. “Because at sunbreak, the bees would want to come out in search of nectar and pollen. And if we keep the hives shut they will die of asphyxiation.”

Aleyamma is a breeder who practices migratory beekeeping. Once the honey is harvested at all the hives placed near her house from January to March, she sets off to Coorg and does bee farming there. “Somehow, the quality of the honey is far better there,” she says.

But there is a reason for that. In Kerala, the major source of nectar is from the leaves of the rubber tree. “This is called unifloral honey,” says Dr Stephen Devanesan, principal scientist, All India Coordinated Research Project on Honeybees and Pollinators, Kerala Agricultural University. “But in Coorg, the hives are placed in forests where there is diverse flora. So, the quality of this multi-floral honey is much better.”

However, the collection of honey is not an easy process. First the bees have to be warded off using smoke. Then the honeycombs are removed from the hive. With the help of a honey extractor, the honey is taken out of the cells and stored in containers. All this has to happen in less than an hour, before the bees start stinging the person.

“In the beginning, the stings used to hurt a lot and there would be swelling as well,” says Aleyamma. “But now, though there is pain, there is no swelling. This is my bread and butter, so I have learnt to tolerate the aches,” she adds.

The biggest problem with honey is that it crystallises and ferments. To avoid this, Aleyamma uses the double-boiling method. In this technique, she pours water into a large container. Then she places a smaller bowl, which contains honey, inside it, resting on three bricks. The bottom container is heated, so that the temperature inside the smaller bowl reaches 45 degrees centigrade. Then the honey is taken out, and put through a sieve, to get rid of wax particles, dust and pollen. Following this, it is reheated to 65 degrees centigrade for about 10 minutes. “After the honey cools, it is filtered,” says Aleyamma. “Once this is done, the honey will last for years, without going bad.”

Interestingly, Aleyamma is the only woman beekeeper in Kerala. Last year, she produced 40 tonne of honey, thanks to the 5,000 colonies of Indian and Italian bees that she has.

And thanks to this high productivity, Aleyamma was recently conferred the Stephen Memorial Award for the best beekeeper of 2014 by state Agriculture Minister KP Mohanan. This award has been instituted by the Federation of Indigenous Apiculturists.

To get a high productivity, Aleyamma depends a lot on the Tamil workers, who are experts at bee collection. “They are sincere, hard-working and not afraid of being stung,” she says.

Aleyamma also credits her success to a workshop which she attended. This was conducted by Devanesan, along with Dr K Prathapan, director of the State Horticulture Mission. Devanesan says: “I have imparted training to Aleyamma and other breeders on how to maintain the health of the bees, manage colonies, and do high-tech apiculture. Today, they are all doing well.”

Like most good things in life, Aleyamma came to bee breeding by accident. When she got married and went to stay at her in-laws’ home in Thodupuzha, she saw beehives for the first time in the backyard. In the mid-1990s, she and Siby decided to move to north Kerala to improve their economic prospects. They tried pepper farming and rubber cultivation.

“It did not do well,” she says. “That was when I thought about bee farming. And now, here I am, the only woman in Kerala doing this work.”

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com  / The New Indian Express / Home> Magazine / by Shevlin Sebastian / February 28th, 2015

Kerala Agricultural Varsity Develops Seedless Cucumber

Agriculture, Education, Green Initiatives & Environment, Nature, Records, All, Science & Technology

SeedlessCucumberKERALA28feb2015

Thrissur :

Paving the way for a fillip in ‘polyhouse’ cucumber cultivation, the Kerala Agricultural University (KAU) has developed a seedless hybrid cucumber variety, ideal for polyhouse cultivation.

This is the first such hybrid developed by a public sector research team in South India, according to reports on Friday.

At present, multinationals have monopolised in ‘parthenocarpic’ variety of cucumber hybrids used in poly house farming which have the ability of producing fruits without pollination.

Farmers have to depend now on corporate sector for such variety of hybrids, and they have to pay in the range of Rs 5 to 7 per seed. The development of parthenocarpic hybrid by KAU offers availability of indigenously developed hybrid seeds to Kerala farmers.

Field tests in university farms have proved that a 10-cent polyhouse can yield five tons of fruits in three months. Dark green fruits, weighing 220 gm with a length of 24 cm and 15 cm width, can be stored up to one week at room temperature without any loss in quality.

The Southern Zone Research Extension Advisory Council of KAU, held at College of Agriculture, Vellayani, recommended this hybrid for multi-locational testing across selected polyhouses in all districts, said Dr Pradeepkumar T, associate professor, Department of Olericulture, College of Horticulture, Vellanikkara, who led the research team.

The team, according to reports, developed the hybrid variety by inculcating parthenocarpic trait into plant types with only female flowers through complex breeding programme.

The team had also developed earlier seedless hybrids of watermelon successfully. It has now followed with the technique of F1 hybrid seed production in parthenocarpic cucumber.

The state government has accorded high priority to polyhouse cultivation in the state by providing subsidy for polyhouse construction in 1000-odd panchayats.

Polyhouse cultivation requires specific cultivars in each crop, and farmers now depend on the seed produced from Korea, Thailand, imported and marketed by multinational companies.

KAU vice-chancellor Dr P Rajendran said cucumber is an ideal vegetable variety for polyhouse cultivation as the fruit is harvested in immature stage. The vertical height of the polyhouse structure can also be exploited for producing more number of fruiting nodes.

F1 hybrids have a very important role in boosting vegetable production in the state. Development of parthenocarpic cucumber is a great beginning in this direction. Time bound action for making available this technology to farming community is the next step, he said.

Normal cucumber types produce both male and female flowers and require pollination for fruit development, said Dr T R Gopalkrishnan, KAU director of Research. Development of fruit without pollination is a tricky trait in cucumber and naturally seedless fruits in this hybrid make the commercial production of seeds a cumbersome task, he added.

Seeds of the new hybrid cucumber are expected to reach the farming community within a year.

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> States> Kerala / by Express News Service / February 28th, 2015

Weathering water woes

Green Initiatives & Environment, Nature

S. Vishwanath / The Hindu
S. Vishwanath / The Hindu

S. Vishwanath, who has been promoting water harvesting, stresses on the need to be water literate.

Water, the invariable backdrop of Kerala life. Be it the rains that lash out two seasons every year, the placid backwaters, or the many rivers that straddle through this narrow stretch of land, water is central to the defining image of Kerala.

It thus comes through as a strange contradiction that at 25 litres a day, Kerala scores low, lower than even Rajasthan, in the per-capita availability of water. The answer to this paradox lies squarely in not knowing how to manage this most precious of our natural resource, properly.

S. Vishwanath is someone who has been campaigning for long for a change in the way we think, or do not, about water. Based out of Bangalore, Vishwanath, a civil engineer and urban planner by training has been working, writing and communicating on issues related to water conservation and water sanitation in urban areas. “Access to good quality water is strongly tied-in with public health, economic activity, and the quality of life,” says Vishwanath.

As our cities grow bearing the brunt of overpopulation, access to clean water is emerging as a new concern. The only way to deal with it, according to Vishwanath, is to harness water through its manifold sources, rain water, ground water, and even waste-water recycled. “A city like Thiruvananthapuram with nearly consistent monsoons has a lot of potential for rain water harvesting,” says Vishwanath, who has been successful in promoting water harvesting designs in several household and commercial complexes in Bangalore. Adding to this, Vishwanath and his team at the Rainwater Club, have commissioned a working model, minimalist in design, that converts urban rooftops to agricultural spaces where food, including paddy, could be grown, fed fully on recycled waste water.

Kerala has the highest well density in India and is a treasure if maintained well. But keeping this ground water and other local water resources usable and free of contamination is an allied challenge. This is where the sanitation systems come in. Sanitation, according to Vishwanath, is as much an urban problem as it is in rural areas.

“Dumping of raw sewage and waste water without treatment into local streams and rivers, disposal of solid waste into drains and canals all contaminate our ground and surface water reservoirs,” cautions Vishwanath.

“A city like Thiruvananthapuram with nearly consistent monsoons has a lot of potential for rain water harvesting.”

The sad plight of the Karamana river is a classic case of our callous negligence. As a reverse example, Vishwanath talks about Mahaweli Ganga, the river that cuts through the town of Kandy in Sri Lanka. “It’s an urban river. But there the water is pristine and pure. Strict laws and their enforcement combined with clever water management practices have made the Mahaweli the lifeline of Kandy”. Vishwanath wonders why this cannot be the case with the Karamana river.

Outside of legal ways and government enforcements, Vishwanath feels, long term change for the good can come only through dissemination of information and spreading awareness on water. “When we are water literate we will take individual actions to conserve and protect water resources. We will create community action to ensure its cleanliness and not allow greed to overcome sustainable use. We will create institutions and arm them with finances and accountability so that they too help in ensuring that available water resources are taken care of,” he says.

Vishwanath is the director of Biome solutions, an architectural firm that designs and build homes and institutions using earth as the primary construction material, inspired by the principles of Laurie Baker. He also works as an advisor to Arghyam, a public charitable foundation that has funded over 120 projects on water and sanitation all over India.

For information on Rainwater Club: http://www.rainwaterclub.org/

Vishwanath delivers a lecture on ‘Towards a sustainable city: Water’ today at University Women’s Association Hall, Jawahar Nagar, at 5 p.m. today.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Features> MetroPlus / by Anand Narayanan / Thiruvananthapuram – January 21st, 2015

Asia-Pacific coconut community meet from Feb. 2

Agriculture, Business & Economy, Green Initiatives & Environment, Nature, World Opinion

Union Minister for Agriculture, Radha Mohan Singh, will inaugurate the 51st Asia Pacific Coconut Community (APCC) session at Hotel Crowne Plaza here on February 2. The meeting will review the global coconut situation and hold deliberations on specific issues in the sector. It will evolve appropriate policy decisions with a view to making inroads into the development of trade in coconut and coconut products between the member countries, a press release issued by the Coconut Development Board said.

The APCC is an intergovernmental organisation under the aegis of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UN-ESCAP). The organisation has 18 coconut-producing member countries.The APCC member countries account for 90 per cent of the world’s coconut production and export of coconut products, the release said.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Kochi / by Special Correspondent / Kochi – January 29th, 2015

Contests to be Held as Part of Coir Kerala 2015

Arts,Culture & Entertainment, Business & Economy, Green Initiatives & Environment, Nature

Alappuzha :

A series of competitions will be organised for coir workers and students from February 1-5 in Alappuzha, as part of Coir Kerala exhibition.

Essay writing competitions in English and Malayalam, based on the subject ‘Mechanisation in Coir Sector – Challenges and Opportunities’, will be open to all.

Entries for the competitions should reach The Convenor, Local Publicity Committee, Coir Kerala 2015, Kerala State Coir Machinery Manufacturing Company, Near District Court, Alappuzha -1, before February 2.

A photography competition will be held on the topic ‘Kayarinte Nattile Karalin Thudippukal’.

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> States> Kerala / by Express News Service / January 29th, 2015

Vechur Cow to be Micro-chipped Today

Agriculture, Nature, Science & Technology

VechurKERALA27jan2015

Thrissur :

The Vechur cow, a rare breed of Bos indicus cattle with an average length of 124 cm and height of 87 cm, is all set to join the elite club of the ‘micro-chipped livestock’ in the world on Monday as the authorities have made elaborate arrangements to tag the indigenous cattle species with pet microchips that uses Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology.

The Vechur Conservation Trust, a body formed to conserve domestic animal diversity in the state, will officially begin the drive of electronically tagging Vechur cows and distributing the pedigree certificate to the owners of the cows at a function to be held in Kottayam on Monday.

Dr Sosamma Iype, Professor of Animal Breeding and Genetics, who is instrumental in popularising the Vechur breed in the country, said the Trust came forward with this venture of tagging the animals following widespread complaints of genetic pollution in the rare species of this local cow variety.

The unscrupulous middlemen in this sector have been promoting the sale of calves of Vechur cows that were bred with local ox varieties in the absence of enough Vechur cows because of the high demand for the indigenous cattle population among dairy farmers in the country. The introduction of micro-chipping and distribution of pedigree certificates will not only check the practice of genetic pollution,  but also serve as a tool to trace and isolate them in the event of a disease outbreak, said Dr Abraham Varkey, who assists the project.

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> States> Kerala / by Dhinesh Kallungal / January 26th, 2015

Towards total organic farming

Agriculture, Green Initiatives & Environment, Nature

Lalitha of Panancode, who won the first prize in organic farming contest, being presented with a goat at the farmers’ meet held in Thiruvananthapuram. Special arrangement
Lalitha of Panancode, who won the first prize in organic farming contest, being presented with a goat at the farmers’ meet held in Thiruvananthapuram. Special arrangement

As part of an initiative to promote total organic farming among 1,000 families living in six wards in Venganoor panchayat, more than 800 families who have switched over to zero-poison farming met at Muttakkad near here on Sunday. This was the eighth such farmers’ meet, a press note issued here said.

The meet gave the finishing touches to a plan to enable more families to switch to organic farming in a year’s time. The organic farmers’ group, set up under the organic farming popularisation programme of the Kerala Gandhi Smaraka Nidhi, is being promoted with assistance from Venganoor grama panchayat, the Krishi Bhavan, the State Horticulture Mission and NABARD.

At the meet, prizes were distributed to the winners of the organic farming contests. Lalitha, a resident of Panancode who secured the first prize, was given a goat as the prize. Other winners were given farming equipment. All participants were given organic fertilizers, seeds, a pamphlet on organic farming and certificate, , the press note said.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Thiruvananthapuram / by Special Correspondent / Thiruvananthapuram – December 29th, 2014

Prakritheeyam, a Woman’s Effort to Protect Nature

Arts,Culture & Entertainment, Green Initiatives & Environment, Nature

Thiruvananthapuram  :

As rampant destruction of nature has become the order of the day and even the government remains a mute witness, a woman’s efforts to build up resistance against the mighty quarry mafia for protecting a rock and its surroundings has been catching the fancy of the people at this remote village of  Myladumpara near Nedumangadu in the district here.

Anandi Ramachandran, a writer herself and a friend of the late O V Vijayan, is tirelessly engaged in preserving the nature surrounding her ancestral home at Silk Farm Estate at Myladumpara.

Till recently, the land here fetched only Rs 5000 to Rs 10,000 per cent.

But with the entry of the quarry mafia, land prices have skyrocketed by ten times. But she could not  imagine her house without the shadow of the rock nearby.

‘’The rock and the surrounding locale had always been there in my memory. I cannot even imagine this surrounding without the rock.

“Seeing the rock basking in the orange glow of the evening sky, the trees on the foothills  dripping in the rains, the reverberating  noise of the winds that hit the rock. …Money cannot be a compensation for such a distinct  ecstasy,’’ says Anandi. Unlike the others, Anandi did not want simply to be cowed down by the quarry mafia.

As a first step to protect the rock, she donated one acre of land adjacent to the rock to United Library, Irinchiyam – to  develop it as a mangrove.

Recently, poetess Sugathakumari launched the ‘’kavu nadal’’ project here by planting saplings.

She set up a charitable society ‘Prakritheeyam’ Centre for Conscious Living and Natural Wisdom and, under the aegis of it,  a reception was accorded to the Western Ghat Protection Council’s tour at Myladumpara.

Anandi, who is the president of Prakritheeyam, also spent a good amount of her fortune to set up a headquarters building for Prakritheeyam, an open auditorium with a capacity to seat 500 people and a decorative gateway.

Constructed in traditional Kerala architectural style within 50 metres of the rock, the headquarters and its premises will function as a centre for children from the locality to sensitise them about nature and its rare bounties.

“Prakritheeyam’ will help the children   realise the importance of protecting nature as it is essential for the survival of the entire humanity. We also have plans to set up a writers’ village, facilitating writers to  unwind themselves and write,’’ says O V Usha  who is the vice-president of ‘Prakritheeyam.’

The quarry mafia had approached Anandi by offering Rs 2 crore for two acres of barren land near the rock. But, for her, money cannot be a compensation for ‘’wiping out images lingering deep in one’s memory’’, Anandi says with conviction.

Green activist Kallen Pokkudan will formally inaugurate the activities on December 28.

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> States> Kerala / by N V Ravindranath Nair / December 27th, 2014