A group of veteran Swedish cyclists on Friday visited Thirugale, a two-month tuber conservation programme being organised by Noorangu, a collective of Vettakuruma tribal women at Irumbupalam near Kattikulam in Wayanad.
The word Thirugale in tribal parlance denotes a stroll into their 70 cents where they have cultivated as many as 180 varieties of tubers.
The two-month programme envisages sensitising the public to the significance of conserving various types of tubers.
“It was a new and wonderful experience for us,” Eva Ryden, a member of the 21-member team, said after the visit.
The group, including 15 women, is on a fortnight-long cycling expedition to Kerala.
“We have heard about different types of tubers, but this is for the first time that we witnessed a vast collection of tubers such as yam, cassava, taro, and dioscorea on a small farm,” Paul Reuter, another member, said.
The tribal women have conserved nearly 180 indigenous tuber varieties, including endangered ones collected from the wild.
The project was started in 2022 under the Thirunelly Comprehensive Tribal Development programme of the National Rural Livelihood Mission being implemented through the Kudumbasree District mission.
The team spent nearly three hours on the farm and learned more about tubers. The tribal women welcomed their guests with a payasam made of four varieties of tubers. They also visited a farm school near the farm.
The Swedish team began their expedition from Mysuru on Tuesday, and they would spend five days in the district, said Nidhin, director of Southern Adventures, a tourism operator who organised the expedition. They will leave for Sweden from Thiruvananthapuram on November 13 after visiting Varkala, he added.
The Thirugale programme will conclude on December 31. The State government has selected the hamlet as the best tribal hamlet in the State which conserves tuber varieties and propagates traditional farming.
