Man has always searched, found and fought for gold. The glittering metal
adorned the beautiful women of the world from the ancient times. Man
travelled miles and miles and dug and died for it. Yet there is another gold
which is not glittering. In fact it is black but yet men sailed unchartered seas,
braved storms, lost ships, made treaties, fought wars, cheated and killed for
this Black Gold – Pepper.
Kerala then known perhaps as the Malabar coast was renowned for its spices
from ancient days. Kingdoms of Portugal, Dutch, England, France, all sought
favours of local kings and chieftains for the right to trade in Pepper. And they
paid in gold and blood for it. Pepper still holds a place of honour in the cash
crops of Kerala. This beautiful vine produces about 40 thousand tonnes of
Pepper in the state. While India with Kerala leading was the largest producer of
Pepper in the world , this coveted position is now taken over by the intrepid
Vietnamese.
Not to be out done Kerala farmers too have looked at new ways and new
Varieties of Pepper to farm. Growing the new varieties on PVC pipes or cement
posts in an intensive way is now adopted .
Achadipura Homestay is one of the first to experiment with the new methods
of Pepper farming. We hope this will a pathbreaker for farmers in the nearby
talukas to follow and thrive.
While visiting Achadipura you will also get to see this tiny but powerful globes of glory thriving in the property. Hurry, come visit us!!