The tribal community at Aaduvilantankudi in Santhanpara grama panchayat in Idukki, Kerala is reaping the benefits after returning to their traditional food habits with millet cultivation. S.P. Venkidachalam, a tribal farmer at Aduvilanthankudi, says the tribespeople decided to go back to traditional farming after nearly 20 years, following food scarcity during the 2018 floods and the COVID-19 pandemic. With the support of the Agricultural department, they started collecting millet seeds last year and successfully cultivated millet in 10 acres. They have decided to expand the cultivation to 15 acres next year.

Millet farming was once a part of their culture and an integral part of their food habits. However, the fields were later diverted to cash crops like cardamom. The tribespeople have now decided to return to their traditional food culture and revive millet farming.

To encourage millet farming, the Agricultural department provided a subsidy of ₹20,000 per hectare to the tribal farmers. In the first year, they received a good yield in the Aduvilanthankudi area. The Santhanpara panchayat has committed to continue supporting millet farming in the tribal hamlet in the coming year.

The Krishi Vigyan Kendra (KVK) in Idukki has also stepped in to assist the tribal farmers. They have distributed five kg of biofortified finger millet seeds to the farmers for trial cultivation in the coming year. KVK officials will monitor the cultivation process and provide necessary assistance.

Ashiba A., an agronomy specialist at KVK, says that the aim is to encourage the cultivation of traditional millet varieties alongside the high-yielding biofortified finger millet. If the trial farming is successful, KVK will extend the farming of the biofortified finger millet variety to more areas.

This is not the first instance of successful millet cultivation in tribal settlements in Kerala. In 2017, the tribal settlements in the Chinnar Wildlife Sanctuary near Marayur successfully revived millet cultivation under the Punarjeevanam scheme. The initiative was led by the then Assistant Wildlife Warden P.M. Prabhu.

The link to the original article for more information can be found [here](https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/kerala/tribespeople-at-aaduvilantankudi-reap-benefits-of-millet-farming/article67804301.ece).