69-YO Kerala Farmer Earns Fame Growing Rare Wild Fruit Loved by Tribals

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Baby Abraham is next to his Mooti pazham tree.
Such is the description of ‘Mooti Pazham’, a rare and wild fruit that grew in abundance in the forests, Baby Abraham from Thodupuzha in the Idukki, Kerala, recalls.
The fruit from the tree Baccourea courtallensis, widely consumed by tribal communities, fascinated him and his elder brother while growing up near the forests of Idukki.
“It was always a beautiful sight to watch the tree that bore fruits at the bottom of its trunk. We couldn’t resist and plucked and relished them whenever we got a chance. It wasn’t seen anywhere else except in the forests. We were also not aware of its nutritious value back then,” says Baby Abraham in conversation with The Better India.
These fruits, with their alluring colours and sweet-sour taste, are also eaten by animals. He adds, “In the forests, these fruits are never left on the tree if animals like elephants, squirrels, or monkeys are around. But when the forests were razed for development or settlements, the trees disappeared and were nowhere to be found.”

A moot tree-bearing fruits at Baby Abraham’s farm in Idukki.
The 69-year-old, who later pursued agriculture, says that it was his brother Joy who first bought three saplings of Mooti Pazham from a tribal man and planted it on his land around 30 years ago.
Today, Baby grows around 250 trees of Mooti Pazham in his one acre of land around his house. Besides, he also grows its saplings and propagates them using techniques like budding and grafting, and earns around Rs 1 lakh annually from his sale of saplings.
Nurturing a wild fruit tree
The Mooti trees are mostly seen in the mountains of the Western Ghats. The name ‘Mooti’ literally translates to ‘below’ or ‘at the bottom’ and ‘Pazham’ means ‘fruit’.
Baby Abraham near a moot tree bearing fruits.
They are mostly spotted in the forest districts of Kerala such as Idukki, Pathanamthitta, Kollam, Thrissur, Kannur, and Kasaragod. Besides, they are also spotted in neighbouring states like Tamil Nadu and Karnataka as well.
The round-shaped fruit the size of a medium-sized gooseberry has a hard covering and pulpy content inside similar to a rambutan and three seeds inside.
Though the common variety of the fruit is red, there are also a few more varieties based on the colour and taste of the fruit. “The red coloured fruit is usually on the sweeter side, the rose coloured one is a bitter variety and the yellow variety is a mix of sweet and sour,” says Baby.
He recalls that one of the saplings brought by his brother bore fruits within four years after they were planted. “Thereafter it started bearing fruits every year. But back then I never had the thought of expanding it as a farming venture,” he says, adding, “Eventually, I started making a few saplings out of its seeds every year and distributed it to others who were interested.”
Mooti Pazham
The practice, which continued for years, took a turn in 2018 when Baby propagated around 300 saplings. “I thought maybe I could sell it to some nurseries but unfortunately, it had very few takers that year. So, I decided to plant around 150 of them in my own land and that’s how it all began,” he points out.
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