CHENNAI: Bibijan stands behind a table piled high with millet and jowar rotis. As people flock to the counter, she hands out plates full of rotis with pickles, sweet potato and cassava bondas and other tuber chaklis.
“Traditionally, we make curries, bondas and chaklis out of various kinds of tubers,” says Bibijan, a farmer from Dharwad, Karnataka, here to participate in the ‘Roots and Tuber festival’ on April 9 and 10. Organised by Alliance for Sustainable and Holistic Agriculture (ASHA-TN), Organic Farmers Market (OFM), Sahaja Seeds and Safe Food Alliance, it is being held at Thakkar Bapa Vidhyalaya, T Nagar.
The idea is to sensitise the urban community to the benefits of consuming root vegetables and tubers and encourage farmers to include them in cultivation. “Tubers are not popular in urban centres but are very nutritious,” says Ananthoo, coordinator of Safe Food Alliance and OFM. “There are many varieties that grow in the wild and for tribal communities, 30% of their food comes from tubers, which are also amiable to changing climatic conditions, diverse soil and farming systems.”
More than 50 people from across the country will participate in the fest. Krishna Prasad of Sahaj Seeds says: “I am a weekend farmer and grow air potatoes, purple yam, arrowroot, mango ginger, five different types of turmeric, and about six varieties of local ginger,” he says. “Our aim is to link tribal communities that grow tubers to the market.” The event also has a seed exchange and a cooking contest.
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