Kochi: With traditional farmers in areas like Kuttanad requiring much time and money to come back to normalcy, experts have urged the state government to push ‘floating agriculture’ as a way of utilising areas which remained waterlogged for long periods for vegetable and crop cultivation, thereby providing alternative livelihood sources to the flood victims.
“The idea is to cultivate plants in a bed of aquatic weeds floating in water. Such floating weed islands created using locally available weeds are used for cultivating a variety of vegetables. The beds of rotting vegetation act as compost for crop growth and these beds float on the surface of water, thus creating areas of land suitable for agriculture within waterlogged regions. This technique is widely used in water-logged areas of Bangladesh and Myanmar but is yet to be tried out here,” Dr G. Nagendra Prabhu, principal investigator, Centre for Research on Aquatic Resources, S.D. College, Alappuzha, told DC.
A research project on the technique, funded by the Kerala State Council for Science, Technology and Environment, was successfully done at Sanatana Dharma College, Alappuzha. The pond on the college campus was the site of the study. Aquatic weeds, mainly water hyacinth was collected from nearby areas in Kuttanad and allowed to rot in water.
The weeds were taken in gunny bags or baskets made of reed (panambu) and were kept immersed in water for a week. Seeds of ladies finger, chilies and cow pea were obtained from the Kerala State Seed Supply Authority, Alappuzha. The seeds were planted in balls made of decayed hyacinth, mixed with soil and coir pith-based soil nutrient obtained from the market. The germinated plants were later transplanted into the floating beds.
Seeds planted germinated and survived in the water hyacinth beds. Their growth was normal and without any obvious problems. There was no need to water the plants as the growth medium was moist enough due to its natural property. The ‘bed’ started to become more compact during the course of time and fresh plants were added. It is also possible to simultaneously harvest fish populations which reside in the beds.
“Preliminary discussions were carried out with farmers of Kuttanad about the use of the technique. The project report was also sent to the Planning Commission exhorting the authorities to try out the technique on a larger scale in the backwaters and waterlogged farmlands,” he said.
