The Kudumbashree Women of Thrissur holds the pride in supplying Kadali Banana to the Devaswom of Guruvayur, Kadali banana being the favorite offering to the deity of Guruvayur Temple. The bananas cultivated by the Kudumbashree women of Thrissur district in purely organic way are therefore taken for poojas and are given away to the people as prasadam and are also used in preparing ‘panchamrutham’ (a sweet desert) as well. The JLGs of Thrissur had been supplying the Kadali Bananas to the Guruvayur Temple for the last 8 years since 9 June 2009. The JLGS had been supplying the bananas with the help of Mattathur Labour Co-operative Society.
The Mattathur Labour Co-operative society procures the plantains from the farmers at a rate of Rs 3.80 per banana finger. After deducting the labour costs the farmer will get Rs 3.15 per banana. Before giving away the bananas the JLGs paste the stickers on the plantain bunch which has the name and code of the JLG, date and the number of banana fingers. Vegetable Food Promotion Council gives the information about the actual market rate of the banana to the Mattathur Labour Co-operative Society. On receiving the plantain, the Mattathur Labour Co-operative Society pays the money to the farmers. Then, the society will take the banana to the Guruvayur Temple and stores the banana at the place provided by Guruvayur Devaswom for storing the banana. The raw bananas would be then smoked for ripening. The bananas are procured on Tuesdays and Fridays of every week. Out of those bananas the best 400 bananas would be taken for ‘Nivedya’ purpose and 7 boxes containing 300 bananas each are taken for giving away as prasadam.
When the authorities of Guruvayur Devaswom arrived at a predicament situation during when the Kadali Bananas weren’t available for meeting the pooja purposes, Kudumbashree came up with the solution that they would cultivate and provide the kadali bananas upon the deal between the devaswom that it would be completely procured by the Guruvayur Devaswom. And then the women started cultivating the bananas as Joint Liability Groups of 4 to 5 people. The harvested bananas from every group are collected by the Mattathur Labour Co-operative society. The women didn't had to worry about the marketing of the crops that they produce. How much they produce, the society procured it from them paying the money. The women farmers from Kudumbashree are growing these bananas under seven panchayaths of Kodakara block, and supplying them to the temple, ensuring a taste of homegrown plantain for the revered deity. Guruvayur Devaswom buys the kadali banana as per the conditions laid down in the tripartite Memorandum of Understanding (MoU). The seed of the Kadali banana is also procured by the Mattathur Labour Co-operative Society. They would procure the kadali seed from the JLGs at a rate of Rs 21 per seed. Only best quality kadali seeds are procured by the society to maintain the quality of the crop cultivated.
Kadali is a small and sweet fruited variety of banana which is mainly grown for offerings in temple and is known by names like Ambalakadali, Nivedyakadali etc. The average bunch weighs about 8-10 kg. Being taken for poojas, the market for the fruit is always assured. It is also believed that Kadali Banana have contents of gold in it. The fragrant Kadali Banana has got medicinal features as well. It is believed by the followers that, Kadali Banana along with Yellow silk and lotus bud is the favorite offering of the deity. A total of 750 women from 150 Joint Liability Groups had been supplying 1.5 million of Kadali Banana to Guruvayur Temple every year.
Around 4000 to 25,000 Kadali Bananas are needed in Guruvayur temple based on the season. Earlier, to give this daily offering, the temple was dependent on supply from Tamil Nadu, as this special variety was on the verge of extinction in Kerala, which wasn’t following organic method of cultivation, whereas Kudumbashree women follow organic method of cultivation. The project is implemented jointly by Kodakara Block Panchayath, Grama Panchayaths within the Block and the Kudumbashree Mission which aimed to supply pooja kadali required for prayer rituals to the Guruvayur temple daily by utilizing the Kudumbashree network. As a result not only would employment and income be generated but also the rare variety of ‘Pooja kadali‘ banana which is facing extinction would be rejuvenated.
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