Cardomom(Elakkai)

Spices like pepper, cardamom and tea, coffee grow in hilly terrain of Kerala near Munnar and places around it. Of these, cardamoms require special attention and care. Proper watering, pesticides, and manure will have to be given and the crop has to be continuously monitored to get good yield. If properly looked after cardamom growing is a rewarding affair monetarily
Cardamom grows near its root and pictures shows views of cardamom being cultivated and crop taken

After cardomom is harvested it is dried and baked in ovens to remove water content from the seed.Dried cardom shells when opened will give small spicy seeds which will add spicy taste to any preparations of food or beverages

Rice cultivation

Rice is the staple food of Keralites.In the earlier days rice used to be cultivated almost in all parts of Kerala with two crops,Mundakan and Viruppu in Pokali rice fields from Alleppey to Trichur.These Pokali rice variety is quite tall going upto 160 to 200 cm.The rice is supposed to be highly nutritious and even have medicinal properties just like njavara rice from Palghat,which is used as marunnu kanji in the month of Karkidakom in the Malayalam calendar just before Chingam,the month of Onam.During the in between period, the rice fields will have smaller crops like vellarikka, mathanga, Thanni mathan, cheera and Payar.I will try to give details on all these separately.
Major large scale cultivation of rice was in Kuttanad, Trichur and Palghat areas. Large scale plantations in under water level at Kuttanad were owned by a private party called Muricken. At that time Kuttanad was even called Rice storage (Nellara) of Kerala.
Kerala state has a peculiar style in that politics rules above interests of the State and its people. We have stoppage of all work called as Hartal which does not give any benefit to Kerala state and its people except miseries for all for nearly three months of the year mercifully celebrated one day at a time. This is mainly given as a torture for poor unorganized people of Kerala mainly by communists who claim to work for the common people.
Similarly they have destroyed paddy cultivation in Kuttanad by taking over paddy fields owned by Muricken and now there is very little of paddy cultivation in Kuttanad.Kole paddy fields of Trichur are also being converted into filled up land. All over Kerala paddy fields are being filled up as it is increasingly becoming difficult to do rice cultivation mainly due to non availability of workers as in Kerala everybody want to do only white collar job especially when they work in Kerala.
Harvesting of rice again became a problem as the political leadership was against use of machinery in the absence of man power. Now reluctantly they are allowing use of machines for harvesting of rice
Pictures show rice fields and harvesting by machine

Areca nut

Areca nut which is called as adakka in local language is another palm tree which is common with almost all houses of Kerala .Fruit of the tree when it becomes ripe is used for chewing along with betel leaves and other ingredients. Chewing of betel leaves was a practice very common in earlier days among Keralites.Now the younger generation is not showing any interest in this and hence adakka is being traded outside Kerala state as north Indians still chew this along with other spicy products. Picture shows top of areca nut tree. The long thin but strong trunk of the tree is used as pole for various works related to construction and decoration work

Coconut products

Every part of a coconut tree is useful.
Take coconut leaves. It can be weaved and can be used for roofing of small houses. In the earlier days coconut leaves woven roofs were common. It will be removed once in a year when it gets worn out with new leaves. At present man power for weaving the coconut leaves into a mat like form is hard to get. Coconut leaves are also coming down due to less number of coconuts being planted and raised.
Husk around coconut is removed while taking coconut for processing. This is kept in water for decaying for some days. Once it is reasonably decayed with water in ponds available in the coconut farm, the straws are used to make coir which is again used for making carpets and dust mats before doors. These coir products are exported to foreign countries and coir export is one of the major industries of Kerala
Hard shell around coconut fruit is removed after putting up the coconut broken into half in the sun for drying for few days. This shell can be used as firewood and also for further processing into industrial product.
Once the hard shell around soft coconut fruit is removed, coconut fruit dried up (Kopra) is processed to take coconut oil which can be used for applying on body and head. It is also used as a good cooking medium.
Wood of the mature coconut tree is quite strong with very strong fibers and can be used for manufacturing furniture and other wood applications requiring a strong wood. When used for furniture the hardened wood after ing will give very attractive appearance.
Fruit of the coconut before drying is made into small pieces and added for Kerala food to add spice to curries. Such coconut small pieces is pressed with hot water to produce a milk like liquid.It when added to curries, make curries sweet and tasty
Whatever left out of the coconut tree is used as firewood

Agriculture in Kerala

At the beginning itself let me tell you that I am not an expert in agriculture in Kerala to write something authentic on it. I am writing general information on it based on my observations.The first and most important cultivation of Kerala is Coconut
Coconut
The name Kerala itself has come from Kera meaning coconut which is the main cultivation in Kerala. Every house hold of Kerala except apartment(Flat)dwellers will be having at least one coconut tree in their compound. Whatever Coconut tree gives is useful. Of late there is some epidemic in coconut trees and thus the crop has come down. In the earlier days farmers used to live with coconut tree cultivation alone. Now I do not think anybody is fully dependent on coconut trees.

Another problem is how to cut coconuts from the top of the trees. Earlier there used to be people doing this cutting down of coconuts once in two months from coconut trees. Almost all of their children got educated and have left for white collar jobs. Now finding someone to cut down coconuts is a real problem. So in many places, coconuts simply fall when it get ripe to fall down.

Industries working with coconut products are also not much popular in Kerala. The raw coconuts go out of the state and get processed and packed and come back to Kerala of course at a much higher price for consumption by Keralites.

Kerala is considered as a very good consumer state as the state has lot of money coming from NRI keralites.So the relatives of NRI s spend the money in buying almost anything without much control.Picture shows coconut trees by the side of rice paddy fields

Life in Kerala

Kerala state is one of the most beautiful part of india which is a multilingual multiculture country with lots of diversity but still connected together as one country.
Kerala state is one of the most beautiful places in earth,almost a must see place for any tourist
It has Arabian sea in the west with long beach almost throughout its length.Several rivers flow from the eastern hilly region rich with plantations of spices and join in several lakes in the coastal areas flowing down and ultimately joining with sea .
People are highly educated compared to other parts of India.But they are very reluctant to work hard when they are in Kerala.Quite a lot of Keralites are living and working in almost every country of the world and they keep on sending money to Kerala.Major source of Kerala economy is the money coming from Keralites living outside India
Kerala and its people have many interesting life style,habits,customs and ways of living.Kerala has got rich tradition of many art forms of its own.I will touch upon all these in my coming posts