Mangaluru hosted a vibrant two-day Tuber and Greens Fair at Sangha Niketan on Saturday and Sunday, organized by the Organic Farmers’ Consumer Forum. The event showcased an impressive array of tubers and greens, attracting a large crowd and highlighting the diversity of organic farming practices across India.
A key attraction was the participation of Guinness and Limca record-holding tuber farmers. Riji Joseph, renowned for cultivating the world’s largest elephant foot yam, displayed his impressive collection of over 100 tuber varieties, including the massive Suvarna Gedde, climbing yams, and tree yams. Similarly, Shaji N.M., hailed as the “Tuber Man of India” and a recipient of the Government of India’s Biodiversity Conservation Award (2021), presented nearly 300 varieties of tubers, grains, and seeds. The fair also featured rare tubers like the Moodli variety cultivated by Kudubi tribal farmers of Joida and a vast collection of yams from a Kerala farmers’ group. Despite travel difficulties, Nilima from Nasik, Maharashtra, contributed nine types of millets to the impressive display.
The fair boasted over 370 varieties of tubers and more than 100 species of greens, representing a wide geographical range. Farmers from Karnataka, Maharashtra, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, and Kerala showcased a diverse selection including turmeric, ginger, arrowroot, medicinal tubers, elephant foot yam, purple yam, tree yam, sweet white yam, climbing potato, black turmeric, black ginger, wild yams, thorny yams, and other indigenous root crops. A complementary selection of organic saplings, herbs (sabige, coriander, one-leaf creeper, harive), traditional vegetable seeds (basale, brinjal, millets), and honey further enriched the offerings.
Beyond the exhibition, the event included a training session on leafy vegetable farming and the release of an informational handbook on tuber and green cultivation. The fair also facilitated brisk sales of tuber-based delicacies and other organic food products.
Organizers S.A. Prabhakar Sharma (President) and K. Ratnakar Kulai (Secretary) of the Organic Farmers’ Consumer Forum expressed their satisfaction with the enthusiastic public response, emphasizing the fair’s success in promoting awareness about indigenous and organic farming. Girish Aithal and Sharath Kumar of Savayava Krishika-Grahaka Balaga (Organic farmers and consumers forum) reported over 30,000 attendees over the two days. They highlighted the forum’s expanding network, involving increasing numbers of young adults and parents, and their commitment to educating both farmers and consumers on cultivating organic produce in home gardens and on terraces. They emphasized their mission to promote the consumption and cultivation of organic vegetables, fruits, spices, legumes, and tubers, countering the dominance of commercially produced food items in modern kitchens. The forum also holds a weekly streetside market in Mangaluru city to further these goals.