area during the monsoon months of 1994, 1996 and 1997 due to the overflowing of bunds and bund breaks and it had prompted many farmers to give up the second crop. The puncha crop season begins with the retreat of northeast monsoon and most of the paddy fields in the study area are sown by the first week of December. Unexpected heavy rains after sowing in some years raise the water level in padasekharams and destroys the sprouting seeds necessitating a second time sowing. Due to the lack of timely repair at present many of the shutters of the Thanneermukkom saltwater regulator are damaged and fail to prevent the ingress of saline water into paddy fields even if they are lowered during the puncha crop season. Some local farmers alleged that the inland fishermen put stones beneath the shutters to prevent their complete closure. As a result of it in many years the puncha crop in the northern parts of Kuttanad is destroyed due to saline water intrusion. The high incidence of plant diseases like sheath blight, blast, sheath rot and stack burn also inflicts substantial damage to paddy crop in this area. Incidence of pests like stem borers, after leaf rollers, case worms, brown plant hoppers, Siberian ducks and rodents are also adversely affecting the crop productivity in the study area. 5.1.6 Lack of Proper Marketing System
