An Integrated Vision for Kuttanad

The “M” in M. S. Swaminathan’s name is Monkombu, a small village, once an island, in the southern State of Kerala, India. It is part of a larger region called Kuttanad, today famous for its scenic backwaters and house boats.1 Kuttanad is also a region that has attracted the attention of agricultural scientists and ecologists for over a century owing to its key agroecological feature, the wetland cultivation of paddy at 1 to 2 metres below sea level. It is not unlike the Dutch polder system, though here the fields were formed by draining delta swamps in brackish waters. The Kuttanad Wetland Ecosystem is recognised by the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) as a Globally Important Agricultural Heritage System (GIAHS). It is also a wetland site designated to be of international importance under the Ramsar Convention.