“Conservation plots helped us earn INR 50,000-60,000 [US$557-670] per year as additional income from an 80-cent (0.3-hectare) plot. The amount was credited to our bank accounts. We withdrew some during emergencies, bought earrings for my daughter, and even purchased a mobile phone,” Annamma said.
“Luxuries like these were otherwise inaccessible through routine wage labour. Now, even our children support us, as they too benefit from the produce and income,” she added. Before cultivating tubers, the sisters relied mainly on short-term work in the paddy and coffee fields of non-Adivasi farmers.
Community conservation plots are primarily owned and managed by women, and their income benefits children and families. Elderly members of the Paniyan community, often the least preferred in the labour market, have also been engaged as custodian farmers, making the programme inclusive for the most marginalised. In Madamkunnu, this inclusiveness is visible in the way Ammini, Annamma, and their neighbours work side by side, bridging generations, sharing knowledge.
“When we provided white yam as our contribution to government flood rehabilitation centers, we felt truly happy. Historically, we depended on others for our own food,” community member Anandan told Dialogue Earth.
The conservation plots not only offer financial stability but also open small avenues of dignity and aspiration, purchases and choices that were once unimaginable for wage labourers. The model has since been replicated in neighbouring Adivasi hamlets in Wayanad, using seeds supplied by the sisters.
Babu Nellarachal, an Adivasi tuber farmer in the district is part of a group of 10 Indigenous cultivators who together produce around 15 tonnes of tubers each year. In 2025, they sold their produce for INR 40 (US$0.45) per kilogram.
“Earlier, we mainly grew tubers for household consumption, especially to meet the high food requirements during our annual rituals. When agriculture gradually became market-oriented, about 18 years ago, I slowly began commercial cultivation of tubers such as white yam, elephant foot yam and Colocasia,” Nellarachal told Dialogue Earth.
To ensure economic security, he has planted high-yielding varieties such as Gajendra, a kind of elephant foot yam. He also conserves more than 45 different varieties of tubers on his farm. This demonstrates how Indigenous knowledge systems can simultaneously support climate resilience, food sovereignty and agrobiodiversity conservation.
For dignity
The harvest season for tubers coincides with temple festivals in Kerala, a time when devotees consume rice alternatives. This demand ensures a good prices for tubers. For families like Ammini and Annamma’s, whose income once depended entirely on unpredictable wage labour, this seasonal market window offers some new financial stability.
The sisters have adopted an 80/20 appraoch: 80 per cent of the plot is dedicated to varieties in high demand such as Inchikachil, Urulan Kachil, Gandakasala Kachil (local white yam varieties), elephant foot yam and Palchembu (a native Colocasia variety). The remaining 20 per cent is used for conserving traditional varieties with less market acceptance but high conservation significance.
This balance between market- and conservation-oriented cultivation has been pivotal in reshaping the sisters’ lives. Students and researchers who study climate-resilient agriculture and on-farm conservation now visit their farm, facilitated by M. S. Swaminathan Research Foundation. These visits are moments of pride for the sisters, as they comet to be seen as conservers and knowledge-holders in their community.
Local vendors who once overlooked them now extend credit, acknowledging their rising economic credibility. “When we decided to conserve, we didn’t expect these many benefits. Now we are sure these varieties need to be conserved, as they bring prosperity to our homes,” Ammini said. More families are joining tuber cultivation after witnessing these changes.
“We now face a situation where the problem and solution coexist – extreme weather threatens conservation, yet conservation is essential to survive extreme weather. Therefore, conserving this critical resource is more important than ever,” she added.
In addition to contributing to global goals such as on-farm agrobiodiversity conservation, tuber-farming initiatives provide enormous opportunities to build livelihoods and restore dignity for vulnerable communities. The sisters’ journey, from landless wage labourers to recognised conservers, captures the transformative potential of such timely interventions in the face of rapid erosion of biodiversity and climate change.
This article was originally published on Dialogue Earth under a Creative Commons licence.
