Farmers grow coffee, banana (“Sirumalai hill banana” or malai vazhai), vegetables, lemon, jackfruit, and some cardamom or spices on terraced slopes and orchards. Coffee estates and banana plantations form a significant part of the cultivated landscape, often mixed with native trees on the hillside.
Farming pattern and environment:
Cultivation is usually done on limited flat or gently sloping patches, with farmers keeping many indigenous trees and shrubs between crops, so farms and forest look almost merged. This “mixed‑farming‑with‑trees” system helps protect the local ecosystem while providing income from high‑value crops like hill banana and coffee.
