Kattakkada in Kerala is attracting tourists with its amazing marigold cultivation

Kattakkada, a beautiful town in Thiruvananthapuram district of Kerala, is attracting tourists for all the right reasons. The town is brimming with gorgeous blooming marigold flowers all shining bright in yellow and orange hues. Pallichal panchayat has got 26 acres of marigold cultivation in 13 places under the project of ente Nadu ente onam.

This year, marigold has been cultivated on 50 acres in Kattakkada. Generally, it’s Tamil Nadu and Karnataka which are famous for flowers for making floral carpets also known as Athappookkalam. It is an important part of the Onam celebration.
Every year, on the first day of Onam, people make floral carpets. During this time, tons of flowers are brought to Kerala from neighbouring states. This year too, people are making floral carpets but using flowers from their own state.

Mallika, Pallichal grama panchayat president said, "Cultivation has been done in the wasteland. Panchayat has identified the unused wastelands and started flower cultivation. This is the success of togetherness. Panchayat could give one month of employment to 250 workers through this project."
The project was started on 10 acres of land but now it has spread across 50 acres.

More about Kattakkada

Kattakkada gets its name from the Kattaal Devi Temple and kattaal in Malayalam means Wild Banyan Tree. Kattakada in Thiruvananthapuram District, is 22 km from Trivandrum, the capital of Kerala.

The town is the second biggest market of hill products in the district. Some of the prime tourist attractions here are the Neyyar Dam, Agasthyavanam Wildlife Sanctuary (10 km away from Kattakada).

The closest railway stations are Trivandrum Central (18 km), Balaramapuram (10 km) and Neyyattinkara (13 km).