Tiruvarur: Tributes to ‘Nel’ Jayaraman at national paddy festival

Tiruvarur: The two-day 13th national paddy festival, organised by the Tiruvarur-based ‘Create’, an organisation fighting for preserving seeds of traditional paddy varieties and other crops, began at Thiruhuiraipoondi near Tiruvarur on Saturday, with an aim to promote traditional paddy breeds among farmers.

According to  Prof. P. Duraisingam, chairman, ‘Create’, the national paddy festival was held for the first time, that too after the demise of “Nel Jayaraman” who had revived many traditional paddy varieties.

He said more than 5,000 farmers from West Bengal, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Karnataka, and Tamil Nadu were participating in the festival and all of them urged the Tamil Nadu Government to establish a traditional paddy research centre in Tiruvarur district in fond memory of “Nel Jayaraman”.

Mr. Duraisingam told DC that this paddy festival was initiated by the late organic farm scientist Nammalvaar to revive traditional paddy varieties and since 2007 ‘Create’ and “Namadhu Nellai Padhukappom” movement by late “Nel” Jayaraman were running this festival for the past 12 years.

The event thanked the State Government for including “Nel Jayaraman’s” contribution for reviving traditional paddy varieties in the 12th standard botany textbook, and appealed to the Government to declare Cauvery delta as a protected agriculture zone.

Speaking on the occasion, State Food minister R. Kamaraj assured that the Government will not implement any scheme opposed by the farmers as well the general public in Tamil Nadu.