A seed is a social product and no one has any personal right over it. It is being handed over from one generation to the other, marking an unending coexistence of nature and the living beings. Although Cheruvayal K Raman, a traditional farmer belonging to the Kurichiya tribal community of Kerala’s Wayanad, was cultivating paddy since the 1970s, it was during the early 2000s that he started collecting the native rice seeds. There was a reason.
A group of people one day visited his house and said they were on a mission to collect the traditional farming tools and musical instruments that the tribal communities once used. They wanted to preserve them for the future generation. The collection drive gave him an interesting idea. “How about collecting the heirloom rice seeds,” Raman thought. He then started a journey in search of traditional rice seeds, many of which have been lost since the introduction of the ‘miracle’ seeds of the Green Revolution. The journey that Raman started 25 years ago evoked tremendous response. A native of Kammana, a remote village five km from Mananthavady in Wayanad, he has managed to collect and preserve more than 60 heirloom rice seeds so far.
The journey, however, is on. Awards, recognition and visits to foreign countries never distracted the tribal farmer-seed-collector. A recipient of Padma Shri, Raman was recently conferred the title of ‘Professor of Practice’ by Kerala Agricultural University. The state government wants him to share his vast experience and knowledge with students, farmers and researchers. Awards and recognition, according to Raman, don’t help. For Raman, years of hard work that he spent on collecting the rice seeds was part of his commitment to society. After collecting the seeds, he cultivated them on his own paddy field, to check the yield and significance of each.
Raman belongs to the Kurichiya community, a tribal group known for their indigenous knowledge in paddy cultivation. When Raman showed fellow farmers the importance of traditional paddy seeds, many followed suit. Raman never sold the seeds that he collected. He would rather supply the seeds to farmers with one condition: those who receive the seeds should return the same amount after their harvests.
“As part of the Green Revolution, many high-yielding varieties of rice were introduced. The farmers were compelled to use the so-called ‘miracle’ seeds by ignoring our traditional native paddy seeds. We are traditional farmers and we maintained seeds which were suitable for various climatic conditions. But we lost all these traditional native varieties after the introduction of the high-yielding seeds. As a traditional farmer, I wanted to do something for the future generation and that’s how I started my journey in search of seeds in 2000,” said Raman, who won the Plant Genome Saviour Award in 2016. The nation honoured him with a Padma Shri in 2023.
Even though Raman was not new to paddy cultivation, collection of seeds from various people and places consumed a lot of energy. “We had more than 12 varieties of rice seeds that we used to cultivate frequently in our family. The yield varies from one seed to the other. While some took six months to grow, others needed 150 to 90 days. When I travelled across Wayanad, I found many ancestral houses having heirloom rice seeds. I was able to collect many rare rice seeds from the houses in and around Wayanad,” said Raman, sitting inside his 160-year-old ancestral home in Kammana.
Cheruvayal K Raman's ancestral house.
A seed collector’s job is challenging, as there are chances of mixed seeds. “One needs to check the rice seeds properly to ascertain whether they all belong to the same type. Those who preserve the seeds may not be aware of the mix but I was very keen on it. The collection drive was a difficult exercise for me,” said the 75-year-old farmer. Once Raman used to go in search of seeds, now seeds come to him from various places. “Today, many bring seeds from various places to me and we discuss the significance of each. I also go to various universities, schools and colleges to conduct workshops and share my knowledge with others,” he added.
Born in 1950, Raman had to stop schooling in Class 5 as the high school was in Mananthavady and there was no proper road to the place then. Raman’s was a joint family which followed Marumakkathayam (a system in which the descent and the inheritance of property was passed from the maternal uncle to his nephews and nieces). His uncle was the chief in the family who called the shot. “We had a huge collection of paddy fields and all the members in the family did farming together. When I grew up, I enrolled myself on the employment register and I was called for the job. When I asked my uncle, he politely told me to focus on the paddy fields, which I obliged. And that’s how I became a full-time farmer,” said Raman, who is known as vithachan (father of seeds).
As a tribute to his uncle, Raman still maintains the 160-year-old ancestral house. “I maintain it as it is. I can’t explain the amount of comfort that I enjoy in this small house in words. It is a special feeling. I don’t want to live in concrete buildings. Even though my children have moved to the modern world, I am happy to live here and continue my work,” he added. The three-acre family land around the ancestral house is where Raman conducts his experiments.
Some of the native seeds that Raman has preserved.
“It is my gene bank. Unlike many other gene banks in the country, I don’t claim any patent. I don’t sell seeds, I only donate them,” he said. Marathondi, Chennellu, Chettuveliyan, Gandhakasala, Onamottan, Palthondi, Veliyan, Chenthadi, Chembakam, Karimbalan, Velumbala, Kanali, Jeerakasala, Rakthasali, Kunkumasali, Pal Kayama are some of the heirloom rice seeds that Raman collected from various people. He also maintains a list of names of rice seeds that he collected.
How old are these heirloom rice seeds? “They must be more than 500 years old or at least 300 years. We don’t have a record to find out exactly how old these rice seeds are. They have been handed down from one generation to the other. Some have lost completely. Many got mixed up. I am happy that I could preserve more than 60 heirloom rice seeds for the future generation,” said Raman, who has visited many countries to create awareness among people about native rice seeds and the importance of farming without pesticides. In 2018, he spoke about the indigenous people and sustainable use of biodiversity at a symposium held in Brazil. In 2023, Raman published his autobiography titled Cheruvayalum Nooru Meniyum in Malayalam.
Known as the custodian of rice seeds, Raman brings in a ray of hope. He wants to bring more people to paddy cultivation as that’s the only way to preserve these heirloom rice seeds. “We should not forget paddy cultivation as it is our main source of farming. I am ready to travel more but an angioplasty and an intestine surgery are taking a toll on me. I don’t have a proper income today. And I am struggling to make ends meet but I will continue my journey,” said Raman.
