A Quiet Urgency in Kerala's Coconut Gardens

For coconut and cashew farmers across Kannur and Kasargod, the effects of a changing climate have long moved beyond distant warning. Prolonged dry spells, shifting temperature patterns, and more frequent heat stress on moisture-sensitive crops are already reshaping when and how farmers work their land.

In April 2026, 86 smallholder farmers from Fair Trade Alliance Kerala gathered at Cherupuzha, Kannur, for a two-day workshop that brought these pressures into focus alongside practical tools to address them. Organised by Fairtrade NAPP in collaboration with the College of Climate Change and Environmental Sciences, Kerala Agricultural University, the workshop connected scientists and farmers in a direct conversation grounded in the realities of farming in Kerala. Fair Trade Alliance Kerala is a Fairtrade-certified Small Producer Organisation with members spread across four districts: Kannur, Kasargod, Kozhikode, and Wayanad, cultivating coconut, cashew, coffee, cocoa, and spices.

Kerala's Climate is Shifting, and Farmers Now Know Exactly How

The workshop opened with a session specifically designed to give farmers a scientific grounding in what is already changing around them. Dr. Sanjo Jose from Kerala Agricultural University presented detailed data on heatwave warnings, future temperature projections, and dry spell frequencies particular to Kerala's climate system. For farmers who had already noticed shifts in their growing seasons, this was the first time they had seen the data behind those observations.

The session drew a direct line between climate patterns and farm-level consequences: how prolonged dry spells and elevated evapotranspiration would affect moisture-dependent crops like coconut and cashew, and why practices such as enhanced shading and localised moisture conservation were becoming essential rather than optional. Farmers left this session with a clearer, evidence-based understanding of the conditions their crops would increasingly face, and a stronger basis for making decisions about how to adapt.

What They Already Grow Is Also Fighting Climate Change

One of the more affirming moments of the workshop came during a session on the carbon cycle and plantation ecosystems, delivered by Ms. Abhishna P V. Participants learned that the mixed cropping arrangements many Fair Trade Alliance Kerala members already practise, coconut intercropped with cocoa and spices, are not only productive farming systems but also highly effective spaces for carbon storage.

This reframed something familiar in an entirely new light. Climate-conscious farming is not always about doing something entirely new; it can mean recognising the environmental value in what farmers are already doing. For these participants, that recognition carried real weight: their land, farmed in ways passed down and adapted over generations, is already part of the climate response.

From Coconut Shells and Cocoa Pods to a Drought Defense

The session that generated the most discussion and the most questions was Dr. Shahidha P A's presentation on biochar. Biochar is a carbon-rich material produced by heating biomass under oxygen-limited conditions, and its value for improving soil structure, moisture retention, and microbial activity makes it particularly relevant for farmers facing drier growing seasons.

What made this practical rather than theoretical was the focus on local materials. Participants learned that coconut shells, rubber wood branches, and cocoa pods, materials readily available on their own farms, can be converted into effective biochar without expensive industrial equipment. Modified earth pits, trench kilns, and repurposed drum kilns were presented as accessible, low-cost production methods within reach of smallholder farmers. For a room full of people who had arrived wondering whether this was relevant to them, the answer turned out to be yes.

Carbon Markets: Proceed Together, or Not at All

Not all the workshop's most valuable moments were planned. During the open interaction session that followed the technical presentations, farmers raised a concern that had clearly been on their minds: several had been approached by carbon certification agencies promising financial returns for carbon sequestration projects on their land. Were these genuine opportunities? And if so, how should they respond?

The discussion that followed was frank. The auditing and verification costs involved in the voluntary carbon market are often too high for individual small-scale farmers to absorb, and the financial returns can be uncertain. Farmers were advised to approach these markets collectively, through Farmer Producer Organizations (FPOs), which can pool costs, negotiate from a position of strength, and protect members from exploitative contract terms. Engaging individually would leave farmers exposed; engaging collectively gives them a far stronger footing.

Voices from the Workshop

“This workshop conducted at Cherupuzha gave us clear awareness about climate change, carbon cycle, and farming methods using biochar. As a farmer, I found the training very relevant. It motivated us to follow more responsible and climate-friendly farming practices for the future.”

- Joseph P T, Farmer, Fair Trade Alliance Kerala

“The workshop on Climate Change, Carbon Management, and the Role of Biochar in Sustainable Farming, organised by Fairtrade NAPP, was very useful for farmers like us working with cashew and coconut. The sessions helped us better understand climate change and our responsibility as farmers. It encouraged us to adopt more climate-friendly farming practices in our fields.”

- Ajith Illimoottil, Farmer, Fair Trade Alliance Kerala

Way forward

The workshop has opened a dialogue between scientists and farmers in Kannur that will need sustained follow-up to translate into lasting changes in practice. The activity report underlines the need for continued localised training and on-farm demonstrations before climate-resilient practices such as biochar can be widely adopted across the Kannur and Kasargod districts.

The challenges of cost and access remain real. Not every farmer will have equal time or resources to produce biochar independently. A collective approach, through Fair Trade Alliance Kerala's existing structures or through FPO linkages, will be essential to make these practices available to a wider group of members.

For Fairtrade NAPP, this workshop is part of a longer-term commitment to working alongside farmers in South India as they engage with climate change, not only as a risk to manage but as a shared responsibility that farmers, scientists, and the broader Fairtrade system must address together.