Kuttanad, the rice bowl of Kerala, is slowly moving into a festival mood as vast paddy fields in the region have started to go under combine harvesters.
A 190-hectare paddy field at Chithira Kayal was the first to go under the harvester last week. Harvesting of paddy crop (puncha crop/first crop) in Kuttanad is expected to hit high gear in the coming weeks.
According to the Agriculture department, farmers have undertaken paddy farming in 26,602 hectares (ha) spread across 587 padasekharams in the district, a major portion of which is in Kuttanad.
