Food security is one of the primary concerns for communities residing in the tribal areas of Kerala. The problem gets compounded when communities do not have proper records and documents for their landholdings, which ends up restricting their access to Government support.
Godavary tribal settlement is one such place where many of the families have no titles to their landholdings. There are about two hundred tribal families living as a colony at Godavary tribal settlement of Thavinhal Grama Panchayath. The people living here are, most often, ignored for any governmental support primarily due to their lack of proper documents for landholdings.
To address this issue we considered setting up a Community Seed Bank for tubers. Along with- Thavinhal Grama Panchayath. We have been able to identify several self-help groups (SHGs) operating within the village with the support of the Agriculture Office (Krishi Bhavan).
We had offered the tuber-seeds for setting up the tuber gardens in the beginning and made sure that the community members would follow the rest of the actions. They were happy to do the work. Nine different self-help groups, with at least 50 households as members will be benefited from this endeavour. These groups are committed to raising 35 acres of land to plant the crops and willing to share the tuber seeds harvested with 50 other families after harvest.
Due to this project, we have been able to distribute nearly 5,000 kg of Elephant Foot Yam, 800 kg of Ginger,600 kg of Greater Yam, and 100 kg of Cow pea. Furthermore, we are expecting to receive about 25,000 kg of Elephant Foot Yam; 8,000 kg of Ginger; 3,000 kg of Greater Yam, and 2,500 kg of Cow pea as total yield when harvested next.
By Ramachandra K G
