When K R Jayan would go around Irinjalakuda, his hometown in Kerala’s Thrissur district, planting jackfruit seeds on empty plots along the roadside, the locals thought he was just a little bit loony.
‘Plavu Jayan’ (Jackfruit Jayan), as he is now called, claims to have planted over 20,000 seedlings of the tree that is found in almost every home of Kerala. But the remarkable thing is not just the number of trees, but the up to 23 native varieties of ‘plavu’ he has planted and possibly helped revive. These include ‘Thamara Chakka’, ‘Rudrakshi’, ‘Baloon Varikka’, ‘Football Varikka’, ‘Kashumanga Chakka’, ‘Madalilla Chakka’, ‘Padavalam Varikka’, ‘Then Varikka’, ‘Athimadhuram Koozha’, ‘Thenga Chakka’ and ‘Vakathanam Varikka’.
Jayan’s love affair with the tropical fruit started when he was in class 7.
“For me, jackfruit is a mission, not a nursery business. I supply original saplings of jackfruit free of cost to anyone who comes to my home,” points out Jayan, who is proud that his work is recognised even by the father of the Green Revolution MS Swaminathan.
Read more of this story of a unique achievement of one farmer in a report by Anand Mohan J published in The Indian Express... (Link given below)
