Sosamma Iype

Sosamma Iype is a veterinary scientist and director of projects at the Vechur Conservation Trust, which works to conserve Kerala’s native cattle breeds, the Vechur and the Kasaragod. She was named for the Padma Shri in 2022, from Kerala ^[1].

A veterinarian’s career

Iype was born on 21 March 1941 at Niranam in Alappuzha district ^[2]. After pre-professional studies at Union Christian College, Aluva, she studied at the Kerala Veterinary College in Mannuthy ^[2]. She worked for 14 years in the state animal husbandry department, took a master’s at the Mathura veterinary college, and joined the faculty of Kerala Agricultural University at Mannuthy; she later earned a PhD in animal breeding at the National Dairy Research Institute, Karnal ^[2]. She retired as head of the university’s centre for advanced studies in animal breeding and genetics ^[2].

Saving the Vechur

Against discouragement, setbacks and threats, she led the effort that brought the Vechur cow back from near extinction and won it recognition as a breed, described as the smallest cattle breed in the world ^[2]. The work, the first of its kind in India, put Kerala on the country’s breed map, and the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization listed the Vechur in its domestic animal diversity database ^[2]. She made Vechur cows available to farmers and linked them with organic farming ^[2]. The project became a model that encouraged the recognition of more native breeds in India, from 26 to 44 ^[2].

She received a national award for conservation in 1998 and the India Biodiversity Award in 2016 ^[2].