IK FOR SOCIOECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AND BIODIVERSITY
CONSERVATION: THE KOLLI HILLS

B. Rajasekaran 
D.M. Warren


For generations local people have been the custodians of
biodiversity. Unfortunately, their basic requirements
sometimes force them into activities that lead to a loss of
biodiversity. Therefore, it is essential that programmes aimed
at conserving biodiversity should take into account the basic
livelihood systems of local people. Moreover, indigenous
knowledge can be used to fulfil socioeconomic needs and
conserve biodiversity at one and the same time. This article
explores the diversity of the indigenous agroforestry systems
practised by the people of the Kolli Hills, identifies the
factors which force local people to engage in activities that
erode those systems, and formulates policy interventions
designed to make effective use of indigenous knowledge, not
only to meet socioeconomic needs but also to conserve
biodiversity.

Biodiversity and indigenous knowledge are interrelated
phenomena (Warren 1993). Once the diversity of floral and
faunal resources disappears, the knowledge associated with
these resources also disappears. With this perspective in
view, a study was conducted at the Kolli Hills in South India.


The Kolli Hills, which are situated in Salem District of Tamil
Nadu State, have a total area of 28,293 hectares. The Hills
are divided into 14 revenue villages, known locally as nadu.
The people native to the Kolli Hills belong to a scheduled
tribe called malaiyala gounder. During the study, which took
place between September 1991 and December 1991, interviews
were conducted among ten percent of the local people,
representing seven of the fourteen revenue villages, and among
officials of the departments of Horticulture, Agriculture, and
Rural Development. Participant observations were conducted at
the fruit market and forest gardens.

I n d i g e n o u s  a g r o f o r e s t r y  s y s t e m
Indigenous agroforestry is an integrated approach to land use
that is characterized by the deliberate maintenance of trees
and other woody perennials in fields and pastures (Nair, 1989;
Soemarwoto and Conway, 1991). The agroforestry system has
traditionally helped farmers to meet their needs for a variety
of goods and services (Alcorn, 1990). The agroforestry system
of the people of the Kolli Hills consists of semi-irrigated
agricultural lands and forest gardens.

Semi-irrigated agricultural lands are flat lands located
adjacent to streams. The local people divide the soils in
these areas into three types: red soil (sem mann), clay soil
(kali mann), and ash soil (sambal mann). In clay soils, they
cultivate rice and ragi, while ragi is also grown in red
soils. Samai and thenai (a minor millet) are usually grown in
ash soils. The various soils are enriched by the application
of the leaves of wild trees such as konnai, karu venbu, and
kattu murungai. The availability of water, which depends on
the amount of rainfall, determines the type of crops that are
grown in these semi-irrigated lands. In the case of monsoon
failure, people switch to drought-tolerant crops such as
legumes, cowpea, sesamum, and mustard. 

Forest gardens (kattu kazhani) are of three types, depending
on whether they were planted on bench terraces, moderately
sloping lands or steeply sloping lands. The soils on the
terraces are enriched by applying wild tree leaves, while
lines of stones are placed at the edge of the terraces to
prevent soil erosion and to conserve moisture (see also Reij
1993). Pineapples and tapioca are cultivated mainly on bench
terraces. The moderately sloping lands are found just above
the bench terraces and are used for cultivating citrus fruits,
citron, guava, and pomegranate. On the steeply sloping lands,
wild trees such as konnai, karuvembu, naval, and kattumurungai
are found. (see table 1; next page / 5art5tab.ps)

Banana suckers are planted randomly inside the forest gardens
and around the edges. In some places, bananas are intercropped
with tapioca and pepper. Although tapioca was introduced by
the agro-industries, the practice of intercropping tapioca
with bananas was innovated by the local people through
informal experiments. According to the farmers, bananas will
grow in any type of soil in the garden. Local landraces of
beans, such as karuppu mochai and avarai, and different types
of root and tuber vegetable crops, such as senai kilangu and
karunai kilangu, are grown as intercrops in forest gardens. 

The people of the Kolli Hills are very knowledgeable
concerning the harvest of fruits, methods of ripening, and the
classification of fruits for market. They also know a great
deal about the adaptability of fruit trees to the various
elevations of the slopes. Methods of culture vary according to
the type of tree and the season. 

Jack trees, whose fruit is known for its flavour, are found in
the higher elevations of the terraces of the Kolli Hills; they
are believed to significantly recharge the groundwater. The
local people refer to this recharging of the groundwater by
jack trees as sunaippu. They also claim that the jack trees
encourage monsoon rains, although this interrelationship is
not clearly understood, either by local people or outsiders.

Local people have drawn up laws and regulations aimed at
minimizing the cutting of trees in Selur nadu, one of the
revenue villages of the Kolli Hills. These traditional laws
are underpinned by a spiritual belief that Kali, the Hindu
goddess of health, will punish anyone who cuts down the trees
around the temple within a radius up to two miles. The sacred
forest site is referred to locally as kovil kadu, or temple
forest. A wide variety of fruit and spice trees, wild trees,
and shade trees are found here.

I n d i g e n o u s  f o o d  s e c u r i t y  s y s t e m s
In all agrarian societies, indigenous food production systems
form the basis of food and nutritional security (Rajasekaran
and Whiteford 1993). Traditionally, cereal grains harvested
from the semi-irrigated agricultural lands form the bulk of
the food consumed by people of the Kolli Hills. Local
landraces of beans play an important role when it comes to
providing protein, while the tuber crops help fulfil caloric
energy requirements. 

The marketing of fruits is an important economic activity
among the people of the Kolli Hills. Most of the protein and
fat requirements (in the form of pulses and oils) are
purchased with the income generated at the fruit markets. Thus
the protein consumption of the people depends mainly on the
sale of fruit. The local people also reserve some fruit for
home consumption, which helps to meet the requirements of
vitamins and mineral salts.

D i s a p p e a r a n c e  o f  i n d i g e n o u s  a g r o f
o r e s t r y  s y s t e m s
Changing sociocultural values, population growth, poor
revenues from the fruit markets, and extravagance in cultural
and religious activities have resulted in a greater need for
monetary income. Although local people are well aware of the
consequences of deforestation, their socioeconomic priorities
promote the cutting of trees, thus leading to the
disappearance of the indigenous agroforestry system in the
Kolli Hills. In the fruit market, the local people sell fruits
to middlemen, who usually determine the price. These prices
are often marginal, which makes the fruit markets an
unprofitable venture for the local people. Taking advantage of
this situation, the agro-industries have persuaded the
indigenous people to plant tapioca instead of fruit trees and
wild trees, the major components of the indigenous
agroforestry system. Although tapioca offers the farmers
immediate income, the planting of tapioca has a devastating
effect on the indigenous agroforestry system.

In an effort to meet the food requirements of the growing
population of the Hills, the agricultural department
introduced rice varieties from the plains. However, these new
varieties did not fit into the indigenous agroforestry system.
Moreover, yields were not as good as in the plains, which has
affected the food security situation. In order to generate
cash for food purchases, some people have resorted to cutting
down the wild trees in their forest gardens, thus further
endangering the indigenous agroforestry situation.

Due to increased contact with the people in the plains, the
local population--especially the younger generation--are in
danger of losing touch with their cultural heritage (Asokan,
1991). The young people regard the knowledge passed on to them
by their ancestors as inferior to the knowledge they have
gained through formal education. This perception has created a
communication gap, and affected the flow of indigenous
knowledge related to the agroforestry system from the older to
the younger generation. This, together with increased
expenditures on social and religious activities, such as
temple festivals, hill festivals, and weddings, has brought
the tribal peoples close to bankruptcy. The need for large
sums of money to repay loans is leading to the disappearance
of their trees and ultimately the entire indigenous
agroforestry system. 

In addition to the sociocultural constraints, certain outside
factors are also unfavourable to the survival of indigenous
agroforestry systems. With a view to increasing the revenues
of the local people, the Department of Social Forestry of
Tamil Nadu has introduced a number of Eucalyptus species. The
water requirement of these species is extremely high, and the
groundwater is being depleted at an alarming rate. 

T h e  c o n s e q u e n c e s  o f  t h e  d i s a p p e a r
a n c e  o f  i n d i g e n o u s  a g r o f o r e s t r y  s
y s t e m s 
It is clear that the destruction of the forest ecosystem has
placed people in a most vulnerable situation. The drying up of
streams due to deforestation has reduced the yield of cereal
crops such as rice, ragi, samai, and varagu. The reduction in
the number of trees has led to a decline in the amount of
rainfall; the loss of jack trees, in particular, has created a
hot, humid environment within the forest ecosystem. Such
conditions inhibit the growth of spice crops such as cardamom,
coffee, cloves, and pepper, which require shade and a cool
environment for their vegetative and reproductive growth.

The rate of deforestation has had a direct impact on food
security and nutrition. The removal of shade trees has
affected the survival of intercrops such as root and tuber
crops, and bean varieties. The declining fruit production
during the last few years has meant that people cannot set
aside fruits for home consumption. More importantly,
deforestation has severely affected the onset of monsoons,
which has in turn reduced the availability of water from the
streams. This cyclical process has had a negative affect on
the yield of rice, which is the staple food. In short,
deforestation is threatening the food security situation in
the Kolli Hills.

The local people suffer increasingly from malnutrition and are
now in an economically precarious situation, due to the
combined effects of monsoon failure, deforestation,
insufficient water in the streams, loss of food production in
the semi-irrigated areas, and inadequate revenues from the
fruit markets.

S u s t a i n a b l e  p o l i c y  o p t i o n s
Unless local people can satisfy their basic requirements for
food and fuel, and unless rising standards of living succeed
in curbing population growth, it will prove impossible to
enforce forest protection measures (Eastwood, 1991). Moreover,
without an understanding of the interrelationships between
indigenous knowledge, biodiversity, food security, and
deforestation, it is difficult to develop and implement
afforestation programmes. The results of this study have led
to several policy recommendations **1:
Since poor revenues from the fruit market are among the major
causes of deforestation, it is imperative to explore the
possibilities for increasing people's income from this source.
This is particularly relevant in the light of the fact that
farmers say that increasing the income from fruit trees would
not only protect the existing trees but also motivate them to
replant the deforested areas.

The establishment of a structured cooperative marketing
society would turn the deteriorating indigenous fruit market
into a remunerative enterprise, by curtailing the influence of
middlemen. The State Cooperative Department has a key role to
play in establishing this cooperative fruit-marketing society.
However, it should be managed by the people themselves, along
the lines of the milk cooperative societies, based on the
Anand Pattern, that have become widespread throughout the
country. This policy would represent an enormous challenge to
the local people, but it is definitely feasible, given their
social structure, which encourages collective action. 

The cooperative should be followed by the installation of a
small-scale fruit-processing unit in the Hills. This would do
away with the need to transport the fruit to the plains, 20
kilometres away. 

It is essential to develop environmentally suitable varieties
of rice crops by combining indigenous and high-yielding
varieties (Rajasekaran, 1994). This may ease the food problems
in the Hills, while at the same time preserving the traits of
local landraces. The present system of distributing rice
varieties from the plains should be discontinued. Not only are
these varieties unsuitable for the agroecological and
biophysical conditions of the Hills, they also tend to erode
the indigenous landraces. The rice varieties from the plains
which are presently being distributed should be replaced with
varieties obtained by combining indigenous and high-yielding
types. 

At present the officials of the Horticultural Farm of the
Department of Horticulture at Semmadu distribute fruit tree
seedlings free of charge. It is suggested that they charge at
least a nominal price, which reflects the actual value of the
seedlings. This would lend the seedlings a psychological value
in the eyes of the local people, which in turn would increase
the reforestation rate. During the process of seedling
distribution, it is also important to take into account the
knowledge which local people have of the forest gardens. From
February to May people are relatively busy, as this is the
flowering season for most of the fruit varieties, and it is
advisable to refrain from distributing tree seedlings or
holding horticultural demonstrations of tree planting during
this period.

Most of the local people are knowledgeable about the role of
jack trees in inducing monsoonal rains and recharging the
groundwater. Thus it is of particular importance that jack
tree seedlings are distributed. The protection of land tenure
rights is also crucial in encouraging local people to plant
trees. Many people do not have secure land tenure and are
hesitant to plant trees on lands to which they have no proper
title. 

High priority should be given to educating people concerning
the need to preserve traditional beliefs and local rules. The
Selur nadu model should be used as an example to revitalize
the value and practical uses of traditional laws and
indigenous beliefs.

It is important to encourage government officials in the
departments of Horticulture, Agriculture, Rural Development,
and Social Forestry working in the Hills by providing them
with proper monetary compensation. Increasing the hill
allowance would also encourage other officials to work in the
Hills. Improving the communication facilities, such as roads
connecting all revenue villages, and facilities for
transporting cash crop products, such as pepper, cardamom, and
coffee, are essential in order to stimulate the economic
growth of the Kolli Hills.

Government regulations are also required to curb the planting
of eucalyptus.

C o n c l u s i o n
The immediate monetary needs of the local people have set the
stage for the disappearance of indigenous agroforestry systems
in the Kolli Hills. Increased population pressure and poor
revenues from fruit markets have further increased the need
for short-term economic returns. Changing sociocultural values
and extravagance in the organization of cultural activities
have also increased the demand for cash. These sociocultural
problems have been further aggravated by inappropriate
programmes aimed at arresting deforestation.

Policy interventions should take into account both the
socioeconomic priorities and the indigenous knowledge systems
of local people. If they are to be effective, social forestry,
agricultural, and horticultural programmes must build on the
existing fund of indigenous knowledge. The accumulated
knowledge of local people concerning the diversity of fruit
and wild tree species, the best location for these species
within the forest ecosystem, and indigenous cultivation
practices should be carefully considered during the process of
developing and disseminating horticultural extension
programmes. Implementing afforestation programmes by carefully
blending indigenous knowledge (suitable location for the
species) and contemporary knowledge (rapid multiplication of
tree seedlings using tree-breeding techniques) would stimulate
the regeneration of the agroforestry system in the Kolli
Hills, thus increasing the productivity and profitability of
fruit-growing. 

A c k n o w l e d g e m e n t s
This paper was prepared and written with funds provided by the
Center for Global and Regional Environmental Research (CGRER)
and the Consortium for International Earth Science Information
Network (CIESIN). The opinions, conclusions, and
recommendations contained herein represent those of the author
and do not necessarily reflect the views of CGRER or CIESIN.
No effort has been made by CGRER or CIESIN to verify the data
contained in this article. The authors are grateful for the
infrastructural support provided by Mr. S. Asokan,
Horticultural Officer, Horticultural Farm, Semmedu, Kolli
Hills, India, throughout the study. Mr. Asokan's close
contacts with the local people of the Kolli Hills and his
continuing services to them through the Horticultural Farm are
also acknowledged.


Dr. B. Rajasekaran
Consortium for International Earth Science Information Network
2250 Pierce Road
University Center
Michigan 48710
USA
Tel: +1-517-797 2700
Fax: +1-517-797 2622
E-mail:Raja@ciesin.org

Dr. D.M. Warren
CIKARD (address see back cover / 5backcov.txt)


R e f e r e n c e s

Alcorn, J. (1990) 'Indigenous agroforestry strategies meeting
farmers' needs', pp. 141-148 in A.B. Anderson (ed)
Alternatives to deforestation: Steps towards sustainable use
of the Amazon rain forest. New York: Columbia University
Press.
Asokan, S. (1991) Personal communication. Department of
Horticulture, Kolli Hills, Tamil Nadu, India.
Eastwood, P. (1991) Responding to global warming: An
examination of the prospects for effective action. Oxford:
Berg Publishers.
Nair, P.K.R. (1989) 'Agroforestry systems in the tropics',
Forestry sciences 31.
Rajasekaran, B. (1994) A framework for incorporating
indigenous knowledge systems into agricultural research and
extension organizations for sustainable agricultural
development. Technology and Social Change Series No. 22. Ames,
Iowa: Iowa State University, Technology and Social Change
Program.
Rajasekaran, B. and M.B. Whiteford )1993) 'Rice-crab
production: The role of indigenous knowledge in designing food
security policies', Food Policy 18(3):237-247.
Reij, C. (1993) 'Improving indigenous soil and water
conservation techniques: Does it work?', Indigenous Knowledge
and Development Monitor 1(1):11-13. 
Soemarwoto, O. and G.R. Conway (1991) 'Javanese home garden',
Journal for Farming Systems Research-Extension 2(3):95-118.
Warren, D.M. (1993) The role of indigenous knowledge in
adaptation and development. Background paper for keynote
address 'Pithecanthropus Centennial 1893-1993: Human evolution
in its ecological context'. Leiden (The Netherlands):
University of Leiden. 


E n d n o t e s

**1 The framework for incorporating indigenous knowledge
systems into agricultural research and extension organizations
in India has been used as a guideline in the development of
these policies (Rajasekaran, 1994).


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