“Pokkali has the ability to withstand climate change because the crop can grow in places with saltwater incursion,” says Jayachandran, a pokkali farmer. Photo courtesy: Sivdas
Culture
Is Kerala’s pokkali the rice of the future?
Pokkali is one of the oldest rice varieties in Kerala. It became prominent for its salt-tolerant and flood-resistant properties and is now being pitched as a climate-adaptive crop
When the South Indian state of Kerala witnessed severe floods in 2018, almost all crops were destroyed apart from the pokkali paddy.