G.S. Gul Mohammed

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, 14 April 2007 — Twenty-three years ago during the oil boom, G.S. Gul Mohammed, 59, was like any other Indian eking out a living in the Gulf. He got his Bachelor of Commerce degree from the University of Calicut, worked as an accountant for two and a half years in a small town in Kerala and then came to Abu Dhabi where he worked as an accountant at a construction company.

But the Gulf experience taught him a valuable lesson. Hard work will help you create an oasis of prosperity in the midst of a desert. He credits all his success to the years he spent in the Gulf.

When Gul Mohammed decided to return to India for good and settle in his sleepy village in the northern Kasaragod district to do some farming, the agrarian crisis had not yet appeared. Neither was there any talk about the impending crisis in the hand-rolled beedi (mini cigar) industry that provided jobs to thousands of women, the elderly and the disabled. Most of all he never thought his efforts would bring smiles on the faces of poor villagers and earn him national recognition.

As the agrarian crisis erupted, poor villagers started feeling the pinch and Mohammed came to their rescue. He taught them how to empower themselves through self-help groups (SHG) and fight the odds.

He introduced new farming techniques developed by India’s leading marine research institutes, blended them with the traditional wisdom of the local community, and established the country’s largest marine group farming initiative.

Today, the backwaters connecting four villages along a 23-kilometer stretch — Valiyaparamba, Thrikkarippur, Cheruvathur and Padanna — account for 70 percent of India’s backwater mussel production. A variety of bivalve shellfish is naturally found there and comprise about 25,000 tons of the country’s annual production.

In 2002, the federal government honored Mohammed with the Karshakashiromani Honor for Technological Innovations in the Farming Sector. He was nominated for the award by the Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute (CMFRI), which provided technological support for his efforts along with the Marine Products Exports Development Authority (MPEDA). There are some 1,200 self-help groups engaged in green mussel farming and Gul Mohammed, nicknamed the “Mussel Man of Kerala,” is now a hero for some 3,500 families, mainly farmhands and beedi-rollers, for whom the green mussels turned out to be manna from heaven.

They all earn a steady income from the mussel industry and are able to engage in other pursuits. The mussel industry needs little attention once the seeds are deposited till the harvest 90 days later.

The growing spat (the larval form of the marine mussel) is deposited in cloth pouches attached to coir ropes dipped in shallow brackish water. This provides considerable employment in the coir sector too.

Bamboos and coir ropes are used to lay the larval bed. It is from the larva that the shell, inside which the mussel develops, grows.

Before venturing into mussel farming, Mohammed had scripted success stories for himself in the real estate industry, and rubber, coconut, cashew and pepper plantations. He then found the Padanna brackish waters ideal for marine farming and started with prawns and crabs. The CMFRI and MPEDA came to his assistance.

In 1996, Mohammed set up his first oyster farm. The initial catch was just 165kg, not enough to sustain even one family. Not disappointed, he expanded the cultivation with the help of local anglers, mostly women. “I first started it as a source of income for myself. But seeing people’s enthusiasm, I decided I wouldn’t make profit out of it and stopped my mussel farming business. Now I provide them with technical assistance and advice,” said Mohammed, an alumnus of Farook College, Kozhikode.

“I was sure of its domestic demand and export potential. I was also sure that the local village council or local people would not allow me to use large water bodies to immerse spats. Then I thought of involving the local community,” he said explaining how it all started.

“Farmers were skeptical initially. They even suspected I got funds in their name. I dug deep into the lives of the farmers and found that these people had big hearts that money couldn’t buy. Soon they started forming SHGs and saw sense in the business,” he added.

Mussel farming is a summer vocation but once it shifts to the sea, it will become an all-year occupation. Mohammed successfully experimented seawater cultivation last year. The catch was better than what is produced in the backwaters.

In relation to this, the Technology Information, Forecasting and Assessment Council (TIFAC), headed by former Atomic Energy Commission chairman Dr. R. Chidambaram, has announced a project to improve productivity and for value addition.

“We have sown seeds 300 meters from the shoreline where they cling to ropes held aloft by buoys out of the reach of waves and other turbulence. The spats have grown well in two months as compared to three months in brackish water,” he said.

“The government should popularize seawater mussel farming. I’m sure it would provide livelihood to more people,” he said. A small chunk of the produce is being exported to the Gulf countries. We are exploring more export potentials.

Buyers are coming in from far-flung areas where mussel is an all-time favorite. The target this year is 8,000 tons and the price is ruling steady at 9.50 rupees per kilo. The cooperatives distribute the profits among its members.

“It is a delicacy at multi-star hotels. We’re unable to cater to the growing demand. TIFFAC has offered a financial assistance of 25 million rupees for setting up a cold storage and center for making value-added products. I’m sure this would give a big boost to production and generate a number of jobs,” he is upbeat about the future.

“He has empowered the village folk remarkably. People like him give us hope,” said local legislator K. Kunhiraman, pointing to brick-built houses with proper roofs to show how mussel farming had improved the lot of the local community.

Gul Mohammed has also floated a theme village called “Oyster Opera” to tap the tourism potential of marine farming and life in the countryside. He has built a few cottages, three on land, one elevated like a treetop house and another floating in the backwater — all have been built with locally available materials.

Gul Mohammed takes his guests along the 30-kilometer stretch on the picturesque Valiyaparamba backwaters and to the estuary opening into the Arabian Sea. Farmers can be seen immersing themselves in the backwaters collecting mussels clams and oysters cultured on rafts erected along the coastline. “I have started training locals. Once it clicks they will get more income, round the year,” he said.

A wide range of mouth-watering ethnic preparations ranging from spicy seafood to tender coconut dessert and yummy shellfish, which is said to have medicinal value, are some of the delicacies on the menu. Gul Mohammed also arranges a variety of entertainments by local artists like Theyyam besides the wellness therapy of Ayurveda, a traditional Indian system of medicine.

The village, comprising coconut lagoons, mangroves and places with medicinal plants, he says, would be an ideal destination for tourists. Tourism Minister Kodiyeri Balakrishnan formally opened the Oyster Opera on April 9.

The occasion also witnessed Fisheries Minister S. Sharma launching a “cage culture” system to fish sea bass. The project, which is being implemented on a commercial scale for the first time in India with the cooperation of the Rajiv Gandhi Center for Aquaculture in Chennai, is also expected to improve the condition of local people.

Another venture, running under the cooperative society, is the seaweed culture to produce carrageenan that is used to preserve processed food. Pepsi has already approached the society to procure everything that is produced.