Kuttanad Below Sea-Level Paddy Farming System, Alappuzha

Kuttanad in Alappuzha district is one of the few places in the world where paddy is cultivated below sea level — in some areas 1.2 to 2.2 metres below mean sea level. This unique agricultural system, known as Kari cultivation, depends on a complex network of bunds, sluice gates, and pump houses that exclude backwater salinity and control water levels throughout the growing season. Before the monsoon, farmers pump water out of the bunded fields (polders), plant paddy, and maintain the fields through three to four months of careful water management. The system was developed incrementally over centuries by farming communities through collective labour and is inscribed on the FAO's Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems (GIAHS) list.