Thiruvananthapuram, Dec 5 (IANS): The face of actor Sreenivasan evokes laughter in theatres across Kerala due to the spontaneous wit that he is synonymous with. He has now found a new passion in organic farming.

Sreenivasan is also one of the most sought after scriptwriters and directors in the Malayalam film world.

He has opened an organic farm 'Sreeni Farms', for empowering farmers in Ernakulam district. The actor along with ad filmmaker Stajan V.J. is supporting farmers with organic fertilisers and buyback for the produce cultivated.

After successfully cultivating organic paddy products, the duo along with their friend Khalifa have opened a farm in the tribal village of Chekadi in Wayanad district.

Sreenivasan while speaking to IANS said, "The idea is to provide some indigenous and tasty paddy seedlings like 'Kalladiyaran' which was about to disappear into oblivion but for the M.S. Swaminathan Foundation in Wayanad that has preserved the seeds."

The actor-director said that Wayanad had more than 100 indigenous paddy seeds but 90 of them were on the verge of extinction. However around 10 varieties of the seed have been preserved by a few organic farmers as well as the M.S. Swaminathan Foundation.

The farm venture of Sreenivasan has support from across the state and actress Manju Warrier was present during the harvest of paddy at Ernakulam district in Sreeni Farms.

Sukumaran, a farmer at Chekadi in Wayanad district, told IANS, "The initiative taken by actor Sreenivasan has given a big boost to the indigenous farming and this will preserve the rare varieties of rice that would have disappeared from the surface of the earth."