Alappuzha: The Rs.18.4-billion Kuttanad package cleared Thursday by the Manmohan Singh government is certain to give a new lease of life to Kuttanad, often referred to as the 'rice bowl of Kerala'.

The package was prepared by none other than son of the soil and eminent agricultural scientist M.S. Swaminathan.

About 90 per cent of the Kuttanad area comes in Alappuzha district,which incidentally is the home town of towering political personalities like Defence Minister A.K. Antony, Minister for Overseas Indian Affairs Vayalar Ravi and Kerala Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan.

Kuttanad, which has some 25,000 hectares of paddy cultivable area, is the only area under paddy cultivation in the state which is situated below sea level and this causes a lot of difficulties for the farmers.

"Poor infrastructure facilities is the biggest lacunae. There are no proper motorable roads, the waterways are clogged with mud and sand making water transport a nightmare. Another major problem is repair works to the Thottapally Spillway and the Thanneermukham Bund are long overdue," said Haripad (a good portion of Kuttanad comes under this constituency) legislator Babu Prasad to IANS.

Another major drawback in Kuttanad is that salt water enters the cultivable areas and the biggest task for these farmers is to pump out the salt water and ensure that fresh water is available during the time of cultivation.