Chennai: Nel Jayaraman (54), who revived more than 170 traditional paddy varieties, died in a private hospital in Chennai on Thursday morning after battling with cancer for two years. He is survived by the wife and a son.
Jayaraman launched "Save Our Rice" campaign and organised paddy festival at his native village Adirangam in Tiruvarur district in 2005. In the festival, he distributed 2 kg of traditional paddy seeds to farmers and they had to return 4 kg after harvest.
The paddy festival became immensely popular among farmers and agricultural experts.
He began with the distribution of 15 paddy varieties and later increased it to 64 varieties. He revived over 170 paddy varieties including Mappillai Samba, Milagu Samba, Gundu Kar and Sigappu Kuruvikar.
Jayaraman had converted over 37,000 farmers into organic farming and increased paddy production. He had also trained farmers on cultivating the traditional paddy varieties. He also has written several books including Nellathikaram and Mamarunthagum Parampariya Nel.
Jayaraman received the best organic farmer award of Tamil Nadu government in 2011 and was invited to the International Rice Research Institute, Philippines.
In 2015, he received the national award for best genome saviour.
Recently, 51 rice varieties from Jayaraman's collection were handed over to the ICAR to be preserved in a vault of the National Bureau of Plant Genetic Resources (NBPGR).
Several leaders including Edappadi K.Palanisami, DMK president M.K. Stalin, PMK founder Ramadoss, AMMK leader TTV Dinakaran and Makkal Needhi Maiam president and actor Kamal Haasan and others condoled the death. Chief Minister Edappadi K.Palanisami had visited him in the hospital during his sickness and offered '5 lakh for his treatment.
