Nel Jayaraman, farmer and consumer activist, who dedicated his life to collecting, reviving and preserving traditional paddy varieties, died at a private hospital here after a long battle with cancer. He was 54.
Adirangam, his native place in Tiruvarur district, is a famous Vaishnavite pilgrimage centre. In recent times, it turned into a hub of Paddy Festival, which was visited by many farmers every year. Jayaraman practised organic farming.
Closely associated with CREATE, a consumer organisation, Jayaraman had been organising the paddy festival since 2005 and distributed 2 kg of traditional paddy seeds to farmers and they had to return 4 kg after harvest. He became so popular that the word Nel (paddy) became part of his name.
Jayaraman, the State coordinator of ‘Save Our Rice’ campaign, began with the distribution of 15 paddy varieties and increased to 64 varieties. He collected seeds of over 170 paddy varieties and organised training programme for cultivating them.
Though the Cauvery delta region is known as the rice bowl of Tamil Nadu, it faced natural calamities year after year.
Encouraged by late natural agronomist Nammalvar, he collected information about the diversity in traditional paddy in coastal areas as they have the potential to withstand climate variations.
“His enthusiasm earned the goodwill of an NRI from his village and he donated nine acres for crop cultivation and for organising training programmes,” said S. Ranganathan, general secretary, Cauvery Delta Farmers Association.
Mr. Ranganathan said traditional paddy grew very tall and the haystack was used to cover the roof of huts.
Important varieties
According to Jayaraman’s website, some of the important varieties he maintained were Kattuyanam (best suited for flood condition), Poongkar (suited for saline soil), Karunguruvai (best for making biriyani), Kuzhiyadichan (for alkaline soil), Kudavaalai , Gauvuni , Mappillai Samba (for high energy), Samba Mosanam (best suited for making flat rice), Arupatham Kuruvai (short duration variety of 60 days).
The website also gives details about traditional varieties, their special characters and land suitable for their cultivation. All the varieties can be easily cultivated under the SRI (System of Rice Intensification) method, it adds.
He received the ‘Best Organic Farmer award’ of the Tamil Nadu government in 2011 and the Central Government’s ‘Genome Saviour’ award and was invited to the International Rice Research Institute, Philippines. After he was diagnosed with cancer, actor Sivakarthikeyan admitted him to a private hospital and volunteered to take care of the educational expenditure of his son.
Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami visited him in the hospital and offered ₹5 lakh.
