A village, 35 kilometers from Thiruvananthapuram, is venturing into growing ginger. Known for growing paddy and banana, the farmers including VK Girijanadhan Nair who has been growing plantain, coconut, and varieties of vegetables on his two-and-a-half acre plot, have added a new element- ginger.
Although ubiquitous in the Malayali cuisine, ginger is not widely cultivated in the Thiruvananthapuram district. It is mostly grown in Wayanad, Palakkad, Kozhikode, and Kannur regions where hundreds of farmers lease land in Karnataka annually for ginger.
Nearly 250 farmers will be proceeding with ginger cultivation under a pilot project titled, ‘Inji gramam’ (Ginger village), an initiative of Kulathoor grama panchayat and Kulathoor Krishi Bhavan. The first harvest yielded nearly 10,000 kilograms of ginger.
The freshly gathered spicy ginger has been stacked up by Thankaraj, an employee of Girijanadhan, in the panchayat of Arivalloor. "After working here for more than 20 years, I have never grown ginger. The farmer in his sixties, loads baskets with the crop and remarks, "Such a good harvest came as a surprise.”
Girijanadhan said, “We did not have any overhead charges and the entire operation has been smooth sailing. I planted Five kilograms of rhizomes, intercropping them with plantain and coconut trees and it has yielded over 100 kgs. I will be investing again in small-scale cultivation.”
Another farmer, named S George, is delighted at his harvest of 300 kilograms. He stated “Previously, I have only cultivated kappa pazham (red banana), paddy, and vegetables on my two-acre plot. Ginger was never on my list. But now, it has fetched me a great price in the market at ₹80 per kilogram. I will be continuing with the next batch in March-April.”
The panchayat president. Sudharjunan G, said that while the panchayat had encouraged the cultivation of plantain, paddy, vegetables, and fruits; they have now forayed into ginger farming. “We launched the ‘Inji Gramam’ project in March 2022 under Panchayat’s People Plan. It has turned out to be a successful collaboration between the panchayat and the Krishi Bhavan.”
The cultivar that they used was brought from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; primarily because it yielded better than the local variants. Each farmer received five kilograms of rhizomes.
Almost two hectares of land were under cultivation in total (nearly five acres). This number includes houses where the crop was raised in pots or grow bags. Farmers with two cents and others with 10 or 15 cents were among them. The intention was to urge as many people as possible to start growing ginger, according to Chandralekha CS, Kulathoor Krishi Bhavan's agriculture officer, and Parassala block panchayat's assistant director of agriculture.
The harvest is obtained in 8-10 months. Manure is derived from poultry, cow dung, and dry leaves. “We were lucky that there were no pest attacks or natural disasters. There were farmers who cultivated more than one unit of rhizomes. Some farmers planted them in grow bags and harvested as much as 2 kilograms from each bag. Some produce was distributed among neighbors and relatives while most was sold through the A-grade cluster markets run by Krishi Bhavan at Nalloorvattom and Mavilakkadavu,” Chandralekha stated.
