Summary:
Trichy: The mortal remains of visionary organic farmer Nel Jayaraman were cremated at his native village Kattimedu near Thiruthuraipoondi in Tiruvarur district on Friday. A crusader for revival of traditional paddy varieties, he had breathed his last at a private hospital in Chennai on Thursday. He also popularised the seeds by conducting national paddy festival in the past few years, a service which earned him the name ‘Nel’ Jayaraman. Leaders of farmers associations insisted on displaying the revived paddy varieties at the Tamil Nadu Rice Research Institute in Aaduthurai. It was through various experiments and observations that Jayaraman realised that native varieties of paddy are best suited for the coastal districts, which are prone to climatic variations..