Mangrove propagation and establishment
Mangrove Isle
A model
coastal eco system regeneration project.
Location –
Puthuppally, Devikulangara Panchayat,Kayamkulam, Alappusha District.
Promoter –
Anilkumar.M.R, Former Managing Director, Kerala State Bamboo Corporation
( Retired Executive
Engineer , Agriculture Department, GOK )
Eco villa, Kunnath ,
Govinda muttam, Puthuppally North, Kayamkulam.
Mobile : 9847968183
E mail : bambooanil@gmail.com
It is God the almighty control
everything. From childhood I worship Lord Ayyappa. My family stayed very close
to pandalam palace and Temple. Evenings (Mid 1960,s) we little ones with our father ( a Sanskrit
scholar & Malayalam teacher at Govt.H.S, Adoor) took bath in the knee level
prestine sand bedded lush ayurvedic fresh flowing river Achencoil under the old
pandalam bridge which was later collapsed during flood. We used to go to
Ayyappa temple for Deeparadhana . In those days local and palace members are
the usual devotees. From the age of 18 I was regular visitor to Sabarimala,
during 30,s and 40,s I went to Sabarimala on all possible months alone in the
evening or morning as I wish to see Ayyappa. While travelling I loved to watch
nature. It was my hobby.
While abroad in Turekmenistan on a
world bank project assignment I was a frequent visitor to the underground lake
( Cavern ) about 180 Km from Ashgabat the capital city of Turkmenistan. I even
took many of the delegation members to this place , accompanied by late Dr.
Narasimha Rao , Most Respected Former Prime Minister during his visit to
Turkmenistan in 1996.
Simillarly during my stay in
Tajikistan( land locked country) in connection with an ADB project I spent my
week ends with my local friends in the snow melt river sides and mountains.
My close and intimate friend pushed
me to the position of Managing Director, Kerala State Bamboo Corporation in
July 2006 .Challenging Job ,but the company was in the stage of closure due to
accumulated loss and resultant financial crisis. Unprecedented political turnout
led to my premature relief from the post without completing my initiatives but
with surplus funds in the companies bank account and many successful new initiatives like new
bamboo products, community bamboo mat weaving centers , and laid the foundation
stone for first bamboo flooring factory . Key achievement was improvement of
daily wages of bamboo workers from 30-40 rupees to 120-150 per day in the
community mat weaving centers. Mechanization of bamboo slivering was inducted
to the industry for the first time was during my tenure as kSBC MD.
I returned to my parent department in
2009 August and retired as Executive Engineer in 2011 March. Since 2010
February I started working on my coastal system development project in my 3
acre saline water intruded, degraded marshy land at Devikulangara Panchayat. I
have done many trials including planting medicinal plants in garden land and so
on. Then I met the experts in forest department and took advice on planting
mangroves. Sri. Trivedi Babu IFS advised
me to go ahead with mangroves. First I have planted 200 mangrove seedlings
procured through social forestry , Alappusha. ACF Sri. Raju Francis and
Forester Sri. Vijayan supported me. The result was highly encouraging .
Saline water intruded marshy land
2009 august.
Along with mangroves the garden land
was cleaned, planted different medicinal plants and trees collected from KAU
and Forest department about 200 numbers. The motivation came from the
observation that lot of wild grown local varieties of medicinal plants could be
seen in my garden land.
Consequent to the opening of
Kayamkulam poshi to ashi for the construction of fishing harbor the paddy field
were flooded with saline water and we have direct access to brackish water from
kayamkulam kayal.The intertidal difference is about one foot in my field which
is the most ideal location to prepare a mangrove nursery. I thought of
sustainable commercially viable infrastructure development. So we started developing
ponds and fish cultivation in it.
Then the ACF came out with idea of
mangrove nursery development, propagating and establishment of mangroves in our
marshy land under kuttanad package.The mission was successful we came out with
10000 numbers mangrove seedlings and planted them around my ponds and retained
some as show case or model mangrove island. It was interesting that once
seedlings are ready for distribution there was none to consume the seedlings.
Now you can see how they are maintained in my farm with lot of personnel effort
and financial input.
Now the plants are more than two years old.
The whole system has developed as a live mangrove museum where you can see
seedlings, model mangrove island, embankment protection with mangroves and a
model coastal eco system with mangroves and integrated farming
Project is in the infant stage , I
request you to visit my model coastal ecosystem actively involved in mangrove propagation and establishment for future generation.
Submitted for favourable response.
Regards
Anilkumar.M.R,
Kayamkulam, 30th July 29, 2012
