Summary:
Kochi, Oct 8 (PTI) Rats, mice, fruit bats and crows have been termed as "vermin" for destroying crops and now the Grey-headed swamphen or "Neela Kozhi", as it is called in Kerala, may also be added to that list if the farmers of pokkali rice have anything to say on it.
The grey-headed swamphens are usually found in uncultivated paddy fields or swampy areas of wetlands where they roost and breed.
However, experts say that the bird is a protected species under the Wildlife Protection Act and that it can be declared as a vermin only by the Forest department of the state.
Bugged by the persistent invasion by these birds of their paddy fields, where a special salt resistant variety of rice called "pokkali" is being cultivated, an Ernakulam-based association of farmers has moved the Kerala High Court urging it to declare this particular species of swamphen as vermin.
Pokkali cultivation is a form of mixed farming, where five months are devoted to growing rice, another five months for prawn or fish breeding and remaining 60 days are a transient period between the two, the petition has said.
The state government, on the other hand, opposed the plea saying the bird was migratory and this was the first time such a complaint had come.