Pokkali Rice

IN NEWS:

• Two farmers in Sundarbans region in West Bengal are cultivating the pokkali variety of rice from Kerala to tide over a crisis-like situation created by severe seawater incursion into paddy fields.

About Pokkali Cultivation:

• Pokkali is a unique saline tolerant rice variety that is cultivated using extensive aquaculture in an organic way in Kerala.
• It is cultivated  in the water-logged coastal regions, spread in about 5000 hectares area in Alappuzha, Thrissur and Ernakulam districts of Kerala.
• The brand Pokkali has received a GI tag from the Geographical Indications Registry Office.
• The rice is cultivated from June to early November when the salinity level of the water in the fields is low.
•  From mid-November to mid-April, when the salinity is high, prawn farming takes over. The prawn seedlings, which swim in from the sea and the backwaters after the rice harvest, feed on the leftovers of the harvested crop
•  The rice crop, which get no other fertilizer or manure, draw nutrients from the prawns’ excrement and other remnants.

PRELIMS QUESTION

Pokkali is a variety of rice from:
(a)Tamil Nadu 
(b)Kerala
(c)Maharashtra
(d)Uttar Pradesh

Answer to prelims question