CAbC FARM

One of the unique features of CAbC, MSSRF is that it possesses 42 acres of land which provides ample scope to demonstrate various conservation activities along with the regular coffee and areca plantations.

Initially, the total land area earlier of the CAbC campus was only 13 acres, a generous donation from the Chairman and his family of their ancestral land. Of this, 5 acres was utilised to build the office infrastructure, guest house, bio-software labs, and mushroom unit. The rest of the land had standing coffee and areca nut plantation along with other trees like silver oaks, jackfruit trees, pepper vines etc. In 2007, an additional 29 acres bordering the existed land was purchased with. Today, the land houses areas earmarked for nurseries and conservation purposes.

Though, CAbC possesses farmland with commercial crops, the objective of running the farm is not commercial in a complete sense, but to be self-sufficient. Moreover, the vast area has been well-utilised to show-case conservations efforts of CAbC that are meant to protect the biological wealth of Wayanad. The conservation farm is extensively visited by people from all walks of life to understand the importance of all forms of biodiversity, be it the rare and threatened endemic plants of Western Ghats, orchid collection, tuber plot, organically cultivated vegetables, paddy demonstration plot, nurseries of medicinal plants and the butterfly garden.

Through the farm, we hope to demonstrate the feasibility of various farm-based activities that can be replicated by small and marginal farmers. Since the last one year, effort was put into making the farm not only an economically viable one but which would also serve as a model for replication of smaller units. Thus, integration of organic vegetable and fruit production, poultry unit, cattle unit for milk and manure for the farm plus fuel for biogas units etc. are promoted in a smaller way. Most of the work done on the farm is an attempt to demonstrate the feasibility amongst marginal and small farmers to take-up varied methods of cultivation and income generation units on a small-scale. In addition, the farm continues its farming of coffee, arecanut, pepper, cardamom and jackfruit.

The entire area of land possessed by CAbC has been mapped with the help of the Revenue Department to enable to demarcate areas for specific activities based on soil, topography, and elevation.

Organic Cultivation : On an experimental mode, about 3.5 acres of the farm land has been demarcated to demonstrate organic mode of cultivation. It has been utilised to demonstrate multi-cropping and inter-cropping in an organic mode. Coffee, arecanut, jackfruit and pepper were already present in this area. To showcase the varietal richness of banana varieties like Nenthran, Nhalipoovan, Nadanpoovan, Mysorepoovan etc., have been planted. Similarly, pepper vines, fruit trees and coconut trees have been planted.

On 35 cents of land, vegetables like brinjal, chilies, ladies fingers, tomatoes, amaranth varieties, beans, cabbage, cauliflower, carrot and pulses are raised following organic inputs. The idea is to demonstrate the economics of organically cultivating a small farm. All organic inputs for the farm like vermin-compost, herb-based pesticides are produced in the farm. The plot has been successful in cultivating vegetables like cauliflower, cabbage and carrot which is generally not grown here. All the produce is sold to local people through the eco-outlet shop.

The organic plot has already attracted people who are keen to adopt such methods. As the cultivation has been taken up on plot where the top soil was removed for construction of a building, the present input far exceeds the output, but it is hoped that shortly the gap can be narrowed down.

Mushroom Cultivation : To disseminate knowledge regarding spawn production and cultivation of mushroom for income generation, CAbC has established a lab for spawn production and mushroom cultivation. It also trains interested groups in the production of mushroom. CAbC has now intensified the production of spawns as there is a large scope for sale of spawns. Mushroom production and training of groups for the same will also be intensified, as a market survey done to assess the demand for mushroom in Wayanad and surrounding areas reveals that there is a good demand for mushroom and that this can provide a steady income for people. At present the production is low-key at our unit and caters to the local and eco-outlet market, which we hope to up-scale by training women's groups and linking them up with strong markets.

Bio-software Lab : Wayanad is striving to be an eco-friendly district and individual farmers and farmers' groups are turning back to organic cultivation. One of the problems faced is the supply of steady and superior quality of bioinputs and towards this CAbC has established a lab to produce biocontrol agents like Trichoderma, Trichogramma along with a Vermi-composting unit. Farmers and women's groups are not only trained to use such bioinputs but are also provided know-how for the production of the same.

Cattle/Poultry unit : A small scale cattle unit is run to supply farmyard manure and fuel for running a domestic biogas plant as an example for small-scale farmers to replicate. A small back-yard poultry unit also serves as an example of the same. In the near future, the cattle and the poultry unit will be up-scaled to demonstrate the feasibility of running such units to raise income levels. Moreover, we intend to stock native breeds to conserve it.

Bee-Keeping : To demonstrate varied ways that a marginal or poor farmer can diversify his income, small bee-keeping units are encouraged in the farm. As an initial effort, 10 bee-boxes have been kept at CAbC campus, as honey can be a very simple way of increasing the income of the household with minimal expenses and work. This too will be up-scaled and replicated within our area of work.

Farming on 28 acres : The rest of the 28 acres continues to be covered with crops like coffee, inter planted with silver oaks, jack fruit, areca nut trees. The shade grown coffee is of Robusta variety. The tree stand at present on 28 acres (E indicates trees already present in the plot while N indicates new plantings) includes- Coffee (7800-E, 840-N), Arecanut (2500-E, 300-N) and trees with Pepper (175 E, 4000 N). As intercrops small patches of area ranging from 30 cents to 1 acre has been utilised for paddy, turmeric, banana, tapioca and vegetable cultivation.

As conservation is our major focus, the CAbC campus is utilised not for just farm activities which should be economically viable but should also be a place where we can showcase the biological wealth of Wayanad. Hence as a community research institute, it is important for us to not just conserve the biological wealth but also encourage people to realize the importance of conservation of the invaluable biodiversity of Wayanad. This biological wealth need not just be agricultural biodiversity but could encompass species from the forests that are facing threats. Hence, on our campus farm you will see very many efforts to protect species through ex situ conservation efforts.

Medicinal Plant Nursery : To illustrate the richness of medicinal species of Wayanad and also commonly growing medicinal plants, we have a rich collection of medicinal plants. Over 350 species are conserved and around 45 such species are grown in the nursery for propagation.

Rare Endemic Threatened (RET) Nursery : Wayanad has over 2034 flowering species with about 491 of them endemic to south Western Ghats. It is estimated that approximately 138 species are on the IUCN's Red Data list. Apart from research into such species, at the campus we have established a nursery of 50 RET species with 20,000 seedlings to propagate and popularise such species.

Conservation Plots : Our efforts to conserve few RET specie has resulted in earmarking areas amidst the coffee plants for an ex-situ conservation area of 300 saplings of 30 RET species covering 5 acres. Arboretum- An arboretum has been established on the campus with 156 species of endemic trees.

Orchidarium & Fernarium : With over 25,000 species, orchids are the largest flowering plants and can be seen almost all over the world except Antarctica. Wayanad too has a rich collection of orchids and to showcase this on the campus, we have a collection of 125 orchid species. We also have a collection of 30 species of ferns.

Climbing Plant Zone : A section of the campus is devoted to Lianas, which are climbing plants that produce true wood and germinate on the ground but lose their ability to support themselves as they grow and in this section, about 156 lianas have been planted.

Ex situ Collection and Conservation of Wild and Traditional Species/Varieties of Tuber Crops and Legumes : With a large tribal profile of the district, the wild and traditional varieties of tubers like yams, taros and also legumes, greens etc., are a major food source for the people but the wild species are also facing challenges as wild areas are urbanized and the community themselves are gradually discontinuing the practice of collecting and consuming wild food varieties. Hence, apart from our work in tribal hamlets where conservation, cultivation, consumption and to some extent marketing of such species are attempted, on our campus we have conserved the following wild food varieties which showcase the agrobiodiveristy richness of Wayanad:

• Dioscorea - 13 wild species and 3 cultivated species
• Legumes 5 species -13 varieties
• Colocasia- 4 wild & 5 traditional varieties
• Arrowroot- 2 varieties
• Curcuma, Wild ginger and other tuberous plants- 9 species

Butterfly Garden : To understand the varied forms of life and their inter-dependence, on the campus we have initiated a Butterfly Garden wherein 151 species of butterfly host plants have been planted and it attracts nearly 73 species of butterflies.

CAbC has not just conserved agrobiodiversity on its campus but has also judiciously utilized the land to conserve other forms of flora. Through our work on the land, we hope to not only motivate farmers towards organic mode of cultivation but also inspire others like Forest Department, planters and other residents of the district to contribute towards the conservation of Rare Endemic and Threatened species of plants.

The Community Agrobiodiversity Library

One of the invaluable assets of CAbC is the well-stocked library functioning at the Centre since the inception of our activities in the district. The library focuses upon books and journals largely in the vast area of biodiversity conservation and is extensively used by researchers and general public. The library has a database that enables quick and easy accession of books.

With a wealth of 3,025 reference materials, which include reference books, research reports, annual reports of various institutions, proceedings and CD's on education materials, this library may be one of its kind in the district. Around 30 Journals/Periodicals are subscribed and these ranges from scientific ones to high quality popular periodicals, of these 13 are in English and the rest in Malayalam. The subject matter of the books in the library covers Agriculture, Biotechnology, Microbiology, Child development, Education, Food Security, Gender, Sociology, Watershed management, publications of various NGOs and like minded Institutions.

In 2008, 281 new books were added to the library. Dr. K.U.K. Nampoothiri, former Director of the Centre bequeathed 30 books and two students from the United Kingdom Mr. Chad and Ms.Emily donated 10 books to the library. The library subscribes to 27 journals and periodicals which includes journals like Current Science, Economic & Political Weekly, Resonance, Journal of Bioscience, Down to Earth, Frontline, Terragreen, Social Welfare, Kerala Karshakan, Karshakasree, Oushadham, Spices India, FRLHT- Amruth, Tehelka, Commodity Vision, Indian Coffee, LEISA India, Rheedea, Krishikkaran, Civil Society, Gene Campaign Magazine Gene News, BG Journal & Cuttings, Tropical Forest, Akshay Urja, Roots etc. The library maintains a collection of newspaper clippings and in 2008-2009, 788 relevant news cuttings were added on to our collection. This year we also added 41 CDs raising the total number to 78. As CAbC-MSSRF guides students from Microbiology, Botany and even Sociology, Anthropology and Social Work, our library stocks copies of the dissertation work of M.Sc students from various universities which are a valuable source of information.

The knowledge accumulated from these treasures has proved that such a facility is of relevance to school students, researchers and the general public. We hope to add on to more such valuable books and serve the community better.