Annatto seed growers pitch for government support

Looking at the red hue on his hands, Pallala Suryanarayana Reddi, 38, recalls a game he once played with his friends as a child. Now a tribal farmer, he says, “Over the past few years, I have been earning my livelihood cultivating annatto seed (Bixa orellena L.), which was once only a source of fun.”

Plucking a bunch of seeds from an annatto shrub along the Pamuleru stream in the heart of Papikonda National Park, Mr. Reddi explains how they used to grind the seeds by hand with water and splashed the mixture on each other, delighting in the natural red colour on their bare skin.