Plant Genome Saviour Farmer

Plant Genome Saviour Farmer

Mangalore Today News Network

Mangaluru, April 1, 2022: A farmer from the tiny village of Nettani Beleri in Kasargod district, is also an avid paddy conservator who has earned a lot of praise for his unique and innovative conservation methods.

Satyanarayana Beleri has developed his own conservation methods and grows paddy in polybags for the first few days and shifting them to a shallow water pond covered by a tarpaulin sheet and protected by a bird net, once the seeds start flowering. He has the credit of conserving over 600 traditional varieties of paddy not only from Kerala but also from Karnataka. He also conserves traditional varieties of arecanut, nutmeg, black pepper and jack.

In his five acre land he grows rubber as the main crop with spices as intercrops. Despite the terrain of his land not being suitable for paddy cultivation he has succeeded in preserving several paddy varieties through sheer determination and innovative methods.

The yeoman efforts of Sathyanarayana who is a Gadinadu Kannadiga earned him the Plant Genome Savior Farmer Reward last year for his pioneering work in conserving traditional varieties of paddy. His efforts are all the more significant at a time when farmers are more and more opting for improvised varieties of paddy.

Satyanarayana is also an expert in bee keeping. Literature, cartoons, art are some of the other areas of interest of Satyanarayana who is a simple and unassuming personality.