MSS & MSSRF AT KUTTANAD

Mankombu village in Kuttanad is known to the world through Dr Mankombu Sambasivan Swaminathan, whose family has been preserving the paddy granaries of Kuttanad since the 1880s. In the year 2013, he brought another laurel to the land through the recognition of Kuttanad as the second Globally Important Agricultural

It was in November 2006 that the Government of India invited Dr Swaminathan and his Foundation to take up a study of the sustainable development of the Kuttanad Wetland Ecosystem. In 2007, the Foundation submitted a 200+ page report titled ‘Measures to Mitigate Agrarian Distress in Alappuzha and Kuttanad Wetland Ecosystem’. By investigating the wetland system from agricultural, ecological, economic and sociological perspectives, the report presented an insightful vision and action plan for the development of the region, which later the Government of Kerala took up as the basis of the well-known ‘Kuttanad Package’. Dr Swaminathan wrote that we must create a Kuttanad Regeneration Symphony with all the actors playing their part in harmony with each other, and hoped that the report would be of help in initiating a new Kuttanad Renaissance Programme. The International Research and Training Centre for Below Sea-level Farming at Kuttanad (IRTCBSF), a Government of Kerala initiative, was also part of his recommendations.

Since then, the M S Swaminathan Research Foundation (MSSRF) continued its work there in the region, deeply understanding the system. By October 2011, the Foundation brought up the study report that the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations took up for proclaiming the below-sea-level farming system of Kuttanad as a GIAHS in the year 2013. The Government of Kerala (Department of Agriculture & Farmers’ Welfare & Department of Water Resources), the Farming Families of Kuttanad, and the Kottayam Nature Society were the counterparts.

Between 2012 and 2015, the Foundation executed the project, Mazhanidhi, aimed at reaping rain and restoring rural ponds in the region. Under the Water Technology Initiative cell, Department of Science and Technology (DST), Government of India, this project completed 100+ Rainwater Harvesting structures to ensure safe and clean drinking water to the most vulnerable families of Kainakari Gramapanchayath of Alappuzha District. In 2014, MSSRF took another initiative supported by Rainwater for Humanity, USA, aiming at providing sustainable solutions for drinking water problems in Vechoor Gramapanchayath of Kottayam District. The Community Water Knowledge Centre of the Foundation was another creative solution imparting water literacy in the region between 2016-2018. MSSRF has also implemented the Parivartan Holistic Rural Development Programme of HDFC Bank from 2019 to 2022 in 15 selected villages in the region which were severely affected by the devastating Kerala Floods that happened in 2018. Under the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) Development Fund, MSSRF is taking up a project from 2021 that aimed at empowering Coconut farmers in the region and transforming traditional farming practices into a vibrant, community-driven enterprise. A Coconut Brand named Kera Saras is now evolving from Kuttanad under this initiative.

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