Cheruvayal Raman

Cheruvayal Raman was a tribal farmer from Wayanad who saved traditional rice and other crop varieties at a time when they were vanishing from Kerala’s fields. He was named for the Padma Shri in 2023, from Kerala ^[1].

A farmer from boyhood

Raman was born on 6 June 1952 at Mananthavady in Wayanad district and belonged to the Kurichiya community, a Scheduled Tribe ^[2]. He began farming at the age of ten ^[2]. His work in organic farming, care of land and water, and protection of old food crops made him well known among naturalists and researchers ^[2].

A living seed bank

At the time of the award he kept 52 varieties of paddy, along with banana varieties found nowhere else in Kerala ^[2]. Two of his rice varieties, palthondi and kayama, were used as gene donors by Kerala Agricultural University in breeding new rice, and his pepper variety uthirankotta contributed to Panniyur 1, the most widely grown pepper in the state ^[2]. He shared seed freely, and news reports later described his fields as a living gene bank ^[3].

Recognition

The Government of India honoured him in its Plant Genome Saviour farmer recognitions of 2013, and the Kerala State Biodiversity Board named him a green individual in 2012 ^[2]. The Indian Institute of Rice Research recognised his contribution in 2015, and he was invited to an international conference on nature in Brazil in 2018 ^[2].

Raman died on 14 October 2026, aged 74, while being treated at Kozhikode Medical College Hospital ^[3][4].