The major occupation in Alappuzha is farming. The Rice Bowl of Kerala, Kuttanadu is located in Alappuzha. Large farming areas near Vembanad Lake were reclaimed from the lake. In earlier times, the reclamation was done mainly from the shallow part of the Vembanad Lake or from the periphery of river Pamba. These reclamations constituted small areas of paddy fields called "Padsekharam". The bailing out of water from those fields were done manually using water wheels ("Chakram"). Gradually the manual method used for bailing out of water gave way to steam engines.