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KALAGHATAGI, a small town in Karnataka’s Dharwad district, is famous for its beautiful cradles. Made with teak wood and painted in vivid natural colours, the craft dates back several centuries. The town is proud of its cradles and…

WHAT does a farmer do with a haul of juicy mangoes that have a shelf life of just one day? The easy thing to do is to dump those mangoes and grow the pricy Alphonso or Totapuri instead. But that’s not a choice the farmers of Ankola…

EVEN in Kerala’s scorching summer, Chunda Kuruvakkavu, a hamlet in Kannapuram of Kannur district, is surprisingly cool. Huge mango trees shield people from the blistering sun, forming a lush green canopy over rooftops. This…

WHAT ails the Kuttiattoor mango? In the past seven years the stars seemed to shine on this luscious mango. It received a Geographical Indication (GI) tag, thanks to the Kerala Agriculture University’s (KAU) IPR Cell, till recently…

NINE years ago, when 57-year-old Pushpangadan Mohandas, an ex-serviceman, went in search of a coconut tree climber, he couldn’t find anyone. Finally, he bought a device and climbed his own tree to harvest his coconuts. Once up, he…

LAST year’s March lockdown was especially hard on fig farmers in the Ballari district of Karnataka. With 1,800 hectares of fig orchards, the district tops fruit production in the state. The sudden lockdown coincided with summer, a…

EVERY day, just before daybreak, a small farmhouse in Kottoor village swings into action. It becomes a bustling factory for just three hours — from 4 to 7 am. What sort of factory is this? If you enter the premises before sunrise,…

FOR 39-year-old Girish Muchal Ramaswamy, a rose farmer in Vasupura village, November 11, 2021 was a day of great significance. As he stepped into his cold storage that day, an exciting new fragrance greeted him. Ramaswamy recognized the…

DO you know what green cashew is? Most people in cities don’t. They are familiar only with the white roasted variety. Green cashew is the main part of the newly germinated cashew nut. It is higher in nutritional value than white…

EVERY year A.P. Sadashiva Marike, a middle-class areca nut farmer near Puttur in Karnataka, would construct a katta across a stream that flowed past his gardens. The katta was dutifully made, at considerable expense, without fail every…