Tamil Nadu Agriculturalist ‘Nel’ Jayaraman Passed Away

‘Nel’ Jayaraman, who tirelessly worked hard in preserving more than 150 varieties of native rice seeds is no more. An organic farming crusader and the state coordinator of Save Our Rice Campaign, died in a Chennai hospital on Thursday morning at 5 am. He was suffering from Cancer. Jayaraman was 54 and is survived by wife and an 11-year old son.

He followed the footsteps of organic guru G Nammalvar and worked hard to promote the cause of preserving native paddy seeds. He is a farmer leader from Adirangam village, Tiruvarur District in the state of TamilNadu. Over the last 10 years, Jayaraman has revived 150 traditional paddy varieties and won several awards. His popularity as a seed conservation man is what earned him the nickname Nel Jayaraman.

‘Nel’ Jayaraman passed Away at 54

Jayaraman had trained over 37,000 farmers into organic farming and increased paddy production. He had also inducted a team of farmers and would regularly update them on the current issues that are affecting farmers.

‘Nel’ Jayaraman

According to sources, ‘Nel’ Jayaraman’s body will kept for public homage till 5 pm today at Rathna Nagar 23/2, Second Street, Near Teynampet Apollo hospital. Later, he will be taken to his native village Kattimedu in Tiruvarur district for final rites which is expected to take place tomorrow.

‘Nel’ Jayaraman Awards

• Won Best Organic Farmer Award in 2012 and 2013 from the Agriculture Department of the Government of Tamil Nadu.
• In 2013 – He won the Best Genome Saviour Award of the National Innovation Foundation (NIF), which he received from The President of India.

‘Nel’ Jayaraman Awards

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