Wayanad, the plateau district named for its paddy fields

Background

Work on the Kalladi-Anakkampoyil tunnel road that would open this district towards Kozhikode has stayed suspended for three months after a landslide at Kalladi, so the district it serves is worth knowing.
Wayanad came into existence on 1 November 1980 as the 12th District of Kerala, made up of the Mananthavady, Sulthanbathery and Vythiri taluks.
It was carved out from the then Kozhikode and Kannur districts.
The name Wayanad is derived from Vayal Nadu, which means the land of paddy fields.
It is a plateau between 700 and 2100 metres above mean sea level, in the Western Ghats on the eastern portion of north Kerala, bordering Tamil Nadu and Karnataka.
About 885.92 square kilometres of the district is under forest, and its culture is mainly tribal oriented.
The district administration calls it perhaps one of the biggest foreign exchange earners of the State, with its production of cash crops like pepper, cardamom, coffee, tea, spices and other condiments.