Paddy Planting Elamadu

About this event

Paddy Planting Elamadu is traditional rice planting in the paddy fields of Elamadu, near Ayoor in eastern Kollam. June and July are the virippu season, Kerala's first rice crop, when seedlings are transplanted by hand into flooded fields.

Farmers raise the seed in a nursery, a small patch where it has already sprouted, and carry the seedlings out in bunches. The main field is puddled and standing in water. Planters set each seedling in the mud by hand. That hand method is the traditional planting experience. Machines may exist elsewhere in the village. This visit is about the hand work.

The exact morning follows rain and njattuvela, the Kerala farming calendar of short star periods, each a little under a fortnight. A good rain can bring the planting forward. A late monsoon holds it back. June and July name the season. They do not mean every field in Elamadu is planted on the same day.

Elamadu sits inland, away from the Kollam coast. Rice land here is often split into small family parcels that share water. The visit is planting, not harvest, and not a temple festival. No song or feast is part of the field work itself. Standing on a public path, where one exists, is not the same as joining the planters. Wages for transplanting, where they are paid, are between farmers and workers.

Ask farmers in Elamadu which field is open, which day the nursery is ready, and whether a visitor may plant or only watch from the bund.

🚆 Railway: Punalur Railway Station — approximately 24 km from Elamadu.

✈️ Airport: Thiruvananthapuram International Airport is approximately 66 km from Elamadu.

🚌 Bus: Ayoor / Elamadu.

🏨 Stay: Hotel Malankara and Hotel Atham are nearby stay options.

✅ Notes: Elamadu village. Dates in this sheet are the listing window (12/1/2026 to 12/31/2026), not a confirmed daily show.