Regions: Pillur - Keystone Foundation

Pillur

Established in 2002, the Pillur field centre began with activities promoting traditional beekeeping methods as a livelihood option among communities. Today, it is a hub for much of the activities carried out by the Community Wellbeing programme, especially in advocating for and securing environmental governance rights.

Human-wildlife interactions

Environmental governance

Agricultural diversity & security

Traditional beekeeping & other livelihoods

Pillur is largely occupied by the Irula community. A highly eco-sensitive and remote region, Pillur was hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic. Our field centre devoted itself to enabling community livelihoods to recover, working with local farmers to improve access to agricultural supplies and provide financial support. We observed that during this time, communities began to rely heavily on the government’s Public Distribution System (PDS) for food security, which provided mainstream commercial foods like white rice, rather than the local and far more nutritious millets. The involvement of our field centre helped them wean off PDS, and rebuild sustainable traditional agricultural options.

In the last two years, 183 farmers have been granted traditional seeds and saplings along with irrigation support, impacting the agricultural viability of approximately 200 acres of land. The Using Diversity (UD) network has supported the establishment of seed banks and monitoring agricultural scope.

November 2022 saw a first for Tamil Nadu, when 13 villages in Pillur were granted Community Forest Rights (CFR) – an achivement following decades of activism and grassroots work by Keystone, local Forest Rights Committees and government bodies. The motion officially permitted Adivasis living inside and on the fringes of forests to claim their rights to sustainably use the landscape they have traditionally always managed. This includes their right to extract NTFP like honey, uncultivated foods, medicinal plants, firewood and so on without having to pay a fee to the Forest Department – all crucial to support their livelihoods. It also allows them to build necessary infrastructure such as roads and water tanks.