Selvam’s mission to save traditional paddy seed varieties

Selvam worked as a mechanical designer in a private company for a year in Coimbatore after finishing his diploma from Industrial Training Institute, before he started farming.
Selvam cultivates traditional paddy crops instead of hybrid varieties | Sriram R
Selvam cultivates traditional paddy crops instead of hybrid varieties | Sriram R

CUDDALORE: A road trip to Thanjuavur inspired by the first book of Ponniyin Selvan brings in pleasant surprises. On a December morning, the trip from Chennai with a pit stop at the Veeranam lake in Cuddalore district wraps you in unexplained bliss. While passing through the verdant farmlands in Mazhavarayanallur village near Sethiyathopu, just few kilometres away from the lake, you will be awed by the emblems of Chola, Pandya and Chera dynasties.

What stands out is an emblem of the TN government designed on a paddy field. Curious as the design is not so common in paddy fields, you take a detour into the Mazhavarayanallur village, where you are sure to meet the 55-year-old R Selvam, known by the traditional seed collectors as Nel Selvam. He cultivates traditional paddy crops instead of hybrid varieties.

“Usually designs like these are made in wheat or corn fields as the crops are strong and they grow high. But it is difficult to make such designs with modified paddy crops as they don’t grow high nor are they strong enough. But traditional paddy grows high and are strong enough to carve such designs,” he says.
Selvam has been making such designs on his paddy crops since 2020, when he carved numbers and mathematical symbols. Last year, he carved Tamil alphabets, an elephant, a cow, and a pongal pot with sugarcane.

“Until 2008, I used to cultivate hybrid paddy crops like other farmers. But then I started collecting traditional paddy seeds and started cultivating them in my four acres land after learning about their importance from my friends,” he says. Selvam started farming almost four decades ago.So far, he has collected 30 varieties of paddy seeds, including Karuppu Kavuni, Athur Kichili, Seeraga Samba, Ilupaipoo Samba, Mapillai Samba, and Thuyamalli Samba. “Earlier, I used to get some varieties from my friends in Kumbakonam and then I started visiting events organised by traditional seed collectors, from where I collected more varieties of paddy seeds, “ he explains.He dreams of collecting all the 220 available traditional paddy varieties and making them accessible for the future generations.

“Seeraga Samba variety had completely vanished from Cuddalore as farmers had moved to modified varieties. Around eight years ago, I brought seeds of the variety and started cultivating it in the district. Now, apart from Cuddalore, farmers from Puducherry and other districts are cultivating it after taking the seeds from me as it was not available anywhere else nearby during that time,” he proudly exclaims.
Selvam says that he distributes one to five kilograms of the seed for free of cost, according to its availability. “If a farmer asks for more than that, I charge a small amount for that,” he says, adding that different varieties of traditional paddy are rich in nutrients.

He also claims to have introduced a new variety of traditional paddy called Rosa.“Eight years ago, I observed that few of the traditional paddy crops that I had cultivated looked different. I collected the seeds from them and found them to be rose (pink) in colour. I sent them to paddy research centres and there, researchers confirmed that it was a new variety, which had grown on its own, after separating from another traditional variety,” he says.

Selvam worked as a mechanical designer in a private company for a year in Coimbatore after finishing his diploma from Industrial Training Institute, before he started farming. “My elder son, Ezhil Vendhan, who has completed his undergraduate in electrical and electronics engineering, has also decided to work in the farm with me,” he says, adding that eminent personalities have also started buying traditional varieties of paddy seeds from him. His dream is to make traditional paddy accessible to everyone in the country.

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