KOTTAYAM: In a bid to support the conservation activities of the tribal population, the Kerala Agricultural University ( KAU) is conducting a study to find out how unique the traditional farming methods adopted by the tribals of Thayannankudy near Munnar are. KAU officials visited the place recently and noticed that the tribals were cultivating crops including millets. The millets comprising ragi, rice, maize and sorgum are being cultivated at the tribal settlement by the tribal population of Thayannankudy coming under the Chinnar forest reserve. KAU officials collected materials for a study being carried out by KAU's Intellectual Property Rights Cell.
“The interesting thing about the farming methods is that they have rejuvenated the cultivation of traditional food crops mainly millets. We have documented the details of farming from these places and are now trying to find out how unique these farming methods are,” Dr CR Elsy, Coordinator of the Intellectual property Rights Cell of the KAU told DC.
The purpose of the study is to give shape to the strategies on how to conserve traditional farming crops and give possible support to the farming practiced by the tribals. Thayannamkudy got the state government’s agriculture award for 2016 for farming. The Chinnar forest range office requested the visit by KAU. “We sought the help of KAU to find out whether there are any new crop varieties among the crops cultivated by the tribals at Thayannankudy”, PM Prabhu, Chinnar range officer told DC. There are around 64 tribal families in Thayannankudy doing the farming with the support of the forest department under the eco- development committee.
