Kerala’s ‘tuber man’ roots for model farming
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The winner of many accolades has ceaselessly conserved and popularised a wide array of tubers

April 30, 2022 05:20 pm | Updated May 01, 2022 04:32 pm IST - KALPETTA

“Tuber man of Kerala” N.M. Shaji on his farm.

“Tuber man of Kerala” N.M. Shaji on his farm. | Photo Credit: E.M. Manoj

N.M. Shaji looks upon 307 varieties of edible tubers, some of which are medicinal and aromatic, on his two acres of land with a sense of pride and achievement. The 43-year-old farmer from Mananthavady in Wayanad is also known as the “tuber man of Kerala” for his relentless efforts in conserving and popularising a wide array of tubers.

Mr. Shaji has received many accolades, including the 2014 Plant Genome Saviour Farmer Award; a special Indian biodiversity award in 2018; the 2021 India Biodiversity Award; and several State awards.

Till a few decades ago, tubers like cassava, sweet potato, greater yam, taro, and elephant foot yam, filled the food basket of settler farmers and tribespeople in Wayanad, who would cultivate them. However, tuber cultivation has declined drastically owing to various reasons. As a new generation of farmers abandoned the cultivation of traditional tuber crops, Mr. Shaji and his family began conserving tuber seeds for the next generation.

“I have experienced poverty in my childhood and wild tubers helped us satiate our hunger in those days. Those experiences have driven me to collect and conserve the tubers,” Mr. Shaji said.

“A considerable increase in the number of cancer patients in Wayanad district was another reason for me to conserve and distribute tubers. In a study, we found that change in dietary habit was one reason for the increase in cancer cases,” Mr. Shaji, who is also secretary of the Mananthavady Pain and Palliative Clinic, added.

He has also established a network of farmers via an informal seed distribution mechanism by which a farmer transfers seeds to anybody on condition that the same amount is returned the following year.

“When I started to collect seeds of tuber crops nearly 26 years ago, many of my friends made fun of me. Now, they propagate the seeds, seeing the significance,” Mr. Shaji says.

He makes efforts to travel to interior forests to procure new types of tubers, known and used only by tribal communities. Such lesser known tubers, including 20 wild species, are conserved in his field. Mr. Shaji has also visited different parts of the country to collect new varieties of tuber seeds.

His farm also has 40-odd varieties of turmeric, 35 varieties of ginger, and different species of trees, herbs and medicinal plants. Moreover, he conserves nearly 52 varieties of rice paddy on the verge of extinction on 19 acres of rented land. However, the farmer said he was planning to reduce the size of the paddy field due to the huge losses involved. “I am planning to reduce the area of cultivation to five acres this year,” Mr. Shaji said.

He incurred a huge loss of ₹2.63 lakh in paddy cultivation in 2021 owing to the untimely rain. Though he had insured his crop, he was yet to get a single rupee from the government as compensation, he said. A core change in the outlook of agricultural officials towards the farming sector was the need of the hour to attract the new generation to it, he added.

Showered with 117 national and State awards so far for his conservation efforts, Mr. Shaji is yet to realise his dream to have a small home for his family.

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