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(vi) Transplanting and weeding

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Paddy cultivation in Kuttanadu thomascombi doc
Paddy cultivation in Kuttanadu thomascombi doc

(vi)
Transplanting and weeding
Due to the poor quality of sowing paddy seeds fall in excess amounts in some parts of the field while in some other parts the rate of seed fall is much lesser than what is required. It results in the uneven distribution of seedlings and adversely affects crop productivity. Therefore the excess seedlings are transferred from the thickly growing parts to the sparsely growing parts of the field and this activity is called transplantation or nattu.
The exuberance of wetland weeds like kavitta, pola, kannikapullu,
African payal (salvinia) and kulavazha (water hyacinth) had been a severe problem to local paddy farmers especially after the completion of the Thanneermukkom Bund. Until a few years back farmers in the study area used to remove weeds three times from their fields in a crop season. The first weeding was done along with transplanting and the second weeding was done within six to eight weeks after sowing. The third weeding was done in between ten to twelve weeks after sowing. Since the early years of paddy cultivation in this region farmers had been using water as an effective agent to control weeds. Ten to fifteen days after sowing they used to open the sluices in the outer bunds and allow the entry of outside water into the fields in a controlled manner until the seedlings of paddy and weeds are fully immersed. The water in the field is kept at that level fora few days and then bailed out. Meanwhile most of the seedlings of weeds decay but the seedlings of paddy survive. A more effective method of destroying seeds through inundation was later introduced by a local farmer called Venganthara John Chacko about three decades back in his 55 acre padasekharam in Mambuzhakari. After pumping out the entire water from his field for the summer crop he kept it as such for three weeks. In the already dried up field seeds of weeds germinated and grew. Then he allowed the outside water to enter and fill the field up to 3 feet depth. The water level was maintained for two weeks and meanwhile most of the already grown weeds were destroyed. Very soon this new method of weed destruction spread to the other areas of Kuttanad region. At present

after destroying the weeds in their paddy fields through inundation more than 80 percent of the farmers in the study area apply chemical weedicides to destroy weeds completely. This practice of the gross destruction of weeds at their early stage of growth has considerably reduced the menace of weeds in recent years. Nowadays inmost of the padasekharams in the study area manual weeding through hand plucking is carried out only once or twice during a crop season.

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