Vanilla failed him, now nutmeg brings national honour for Kottayam FACT researcher turned farmer

For weeks, T Joseph, 83, a farmer from Vaikom, divided his time between tending to his crops and preparing for a journey far from his fields. On Tuesday, he travelled to New Delhi to receive the Plant Genome Saviour Award from Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Union Minister for Agriculture and Farmers Welfare. The award honours individuals who conserve and preserve the genetic diversity of economically important plants and their wild relatives. He was the only farmer from Kerala among the four other awardees.

He was accompanied by Dr Jayalakshmy G, Professor and Head of Krishi Vigyan Kendra (KVK), Kottayam. 

"I am very happy, it is a great honour. I was the only recipient from Kerala, and only four others were honoured in the same category,” said Joseph. “I spoke with another farmer from Karnataka who had come for the event. There was a flex board displaying my photo and details about my crop varieties. After receiving the award, I sent photos to my wife and son. They were both very happy.”

KVK nominated Joseph for the award for developing and releasing a nutmeg variety named ‘KAU Poothara’, introduced in 2018 in collaboration with the Kerala Agricultural University (KAU). The variety carries his family name, Poothara. In addition to this released variety, he also conserves four other high-quality nutmeg accessions on his farm.

Before taking up nutmeg farming, Joseph had worked in the research division of The Fertilisers and Chemicals Travancore Ltd (FACT). "After my retirement, I began small-scale farming on the land near my house. I initially cultivated vanilla because it was popular then, but by the time it was ready for sale, there were no buyers. So I had to start again," he recalled. “But I don’t consider it a loss, I learnt from it.”

He started farming nutmeg in 2003. “I didn’t know much at first, but I attended training sessions at KAU and KVK and started cultivating them on my own. After one such class, I brought them nutmeg from my farm. They studied it and later told me it was a new variety. It was released under KAU, and I was honoured by the Chief Minister for that in 2018," he said.

Even though Joseph started cultivating in the space near his house, today he nurtures nutmeg across 1 acre 20 cents of land beside his home and maintains more than 4 acres of paddy. Besides nutmeg, he grows vegetables, rice and coconuts. He also conserves two paddy varieties, one ginger variety, one pepper variety and three vegetable varieties on his farm in Vaikom. 

“KAU Poothara is more high-yielding than the common nutmeg variety. It is grown in a low range land like Kottayam, but can still compete with those grown in high range areas like Idukki, which is what makes this more special. We use organic waste and manure and if the soil test shows any deficiency, we correct it,” Joseph said. 

“Farming is what keeps me up. I do it enthusiastically. If it were not for this, I would have been bedridden a long time ago,” he said. “Every morning, I come to my land to take care of and oversee my plants and crops. I have two people to help me and sometimes hire outside help. Nothing was done in any laboratory; all budding was done here only.”

Joseph also supplies budded planting materials to fellow farmers. “I give saplings to farmers at a rate of ₹1000 per sapling. It will flower in a year. We do everything we can to make sure that the farmers buying it have no problems with it. I get positive feedback from people all over the state who have brought it,” he said. 

Joseph has also received the Sugandhsree Innovative Farmer Award in 2019 from the Indian Society of Spices, in association with ICAR–IISR, for developing nutmeg varieties and eco-friendly farming techniques. He also won the Best Spice Farmer (Innovation) Award from IISR in 2024. He participated in the All India Science Congress in 2023 and has been involved in farmer training programmes. He also served on the scientific advisory committee of KVK Kottayam in 2016–17, and his work has been featured in several scientific and popular publications.        

“Joseph is an innovative farmer, who is very closely associated with Kerala Agricultural University and with KVK Kottayam for the last 12 years. He not only conserves traditional varieties but also multiplies them and gives them to other farmers,” said Dr Jayalakshmy.

Joseph and his wife, Saramma Joseph, have one son, Manoj Joseph, who works as an advocate in Dubai.