Along the lanes of Mettukundu village in Virudhunagar sandwiched by vast expanse of monocropping of sorghum (cholam), maize, cotton, sunflower lies Prem Kumar’s 3.75 acre multi-cropped food farm like an oasis in the desert. “My aim is to set up a model integrated farm which could reduce cultivation expense, use natural cycles as much as possible and be manageable by family members itself while ensuring direct sales to consumer.” says Prem Kumar. As we step into the farm, we f

Adjoining the Pazhavari lake lies a serene 3 acres farm with palmyra trees on both sides of the mud road forming an archway leading to the farm. Sandwiched by Bamboo, Mahogany and Manjakadambu plantation on the other side acting as a live fence, Shiva anna’s organic farm in Pinayur is quite different from rest of the village. Shiva, a MTC bus driver-cum organic farmer says “We are developing a biodiverse organic farm which needs less labour and less water. Only me and my wife

“The tractor standing there is our source of income, not this 10 acres of land” said Arunachalam, a dry land farmer in Kadavur, Karur. Echoes of farmer’s distress, impact of climate change and degrading soil reverberated the lush brown dry land farm covered with white and red cholam cultivated for their cattle. “Last year we got a meagre yield of 1200 kgs (16 sacks) of paddy in 3 acres of land. We spent over Rs 1 lakhs for the cultivation and got meagre amounts in return. The

“Ahhey ahhey Koovu”, called out Velmurugan anna, a pastoralist from Vellanguli, Tirunelveli. “Each goat herder has their own unique sounds to control their goats while grazing” said Velmurugan while grazing his goats in the open lands of Thekku Veranallur near Vellanguli. Velmurugan has 80 semmari goat and a small patch of land (0.66 acres) in which he cultivates banana and paddy. It was a pleasantly warm afternoon in the month of November and hence met Velmurugan near his vi

“When I came to this house, we had nothing, no land and no livestock. Our relentless hard work for over 30 years has reaped benefits and now we have 170 native cows, 300 goats and 5 acres of land” says Palaniammal akka with her eyes brimming with confidence. Palaniammal hailing from Thotampatti, Kovilpatti is an inspiration and an epitome of success. “We were struggling even to manage basic amenities and we had 3 kids in the family as well. I asked my husband and father-in-la

It was getting dark as we were returning from Karmegam anna’s palmyra groove in Kannirajapuram, Ramanathapuram district. We were surrounded by palmyra trees and my thoughts lingered around the plights of palmyra tappers producing Padani (Palmyra nectar) and Karupatti (Palmyra jaggery). We heard a tremulous voice of a goat kid lost from its herd. The goat herder was far inside the field and it was getting darker, so Karmegam anna decided to take the goat kid home and to return

At the stroke of midnight, a bunch of us in a tempo van took a right turn into the fields from the highway of Maravamangalam, Sivagangai. We were surrounded by horny shrubs as we ventured deepen into pitch dark fields. We were carrying Karuppu Kavuni rice, jaggery, utensils and 4 goats towards a goat ‘kidai’. Pastoral communities set up ‘kidai’ i.e. hosting their livestock in agricultural lands during non-agricultural summer season. There used to be great level of inter-conne