About Nuts and Dams

About Nuts and Dams

 

 

The State of Kerala in India got its name from being the land of Coconuts. No more so. I have already written about how our families failed being farmers of Coconut and Rice. [The Maiden]

 

I have seen the total yield coming down to hundreds from several thousands in my childhood itself and now the number of trees dwindling to below hundred, perhaps. I understood very early that, for us, it cannot assure a livelihood. The land should change its name to the land of Latex, being the better farming alternative. It has been so since years. The farmers who stuck to coconuts were fools.

 

We are speaking of development in the scarce land that is left and is converting the place into economic zones, building infrastructure.

 

Perhaps you might have heard about the tussle between the two States in India, Tamil Nadu and Kerala over a Dam -Mullaperiyar. There has been this Hollywood movie Dam 999 produced by a Keralite, another subject of controversy. The matter is now before the Supreme Court of India.

 

(We heard a lot from our Booker prize winning author about Dams in other places, sadly, we don’t hear from her about the call to build a new Dam in our State in place of that one to strengthen it!)

 

Recently a local Weekly in Kerala carried an article after good research blaming successive Left Governments for failure to protect the rivers in the State of Kerala and how the State of Tamil Nadu diverted water for their interests, depriving the State its due.

 

Frankly, the article was lost on me. We have been converting to Rubber for years and economically that is a better crop! By Economics, we should go after that. Our family had planted Rubber in a small plot some years back and I remember very well that it gave us some assured return despite our outsourcing the tapping and processing. It was common sense.

 

Water diverted means even Kuttanad (which is known for hectares of rice fields below sea level) can be converted to Rubber estates. Shouldn’t we do that?

 

Water should be given to those who know how to use it. For those who need it. Why should the water be allowed to flow into the Sea and lost? Kerala gets good rain through its monsoons, if we catch that in small ponds and wells, it should be enough for us to survive. I have done that in my home. We do not need water from Municipality except when there is no rain and during summer. So if we have a period of scarce monsoons we have a claim for water from the Dams. Not otherwise.

 

I have travelled through this State of Tamil Nadu, before. But that was mostly during night. The few occasions I travelled during the day, I have seen vast stretches of arid lands, hot humid weather and only trees like that we saw in deserts, tamarind trees etc.

 

In January 2012 I had a chance to travel to Chennai, the Capital of Tamil Nadu and I opted for a day train. What I saw was unbelievable.

 

The change is what I am sharing with you now. I am humbled and I prostrate before the hardworking people of Tamil Nadu. 

 

[News: The area under coconut and its production in Kerala have been coming down. While the area has declined from 0.9 million hectares in 2005-6 to 0.78 million hectares in 2009-10, the production has declined from 6326 million to 5667 million nuts during the same period. The increase in productivity (?) from 7046 nuts to 7278 nuts per hectare in Kerala has not been able to stem the fall in total production.

 

(This increase must be in research farms alone, not in our farms!-A P)

 

In contrast, in the State of Tamil Nadu, the area under coconut has grown to 0.4 million hectares while production grew from 4867 million to 5547 million nuts during the same period. On the productivity front, Tamil Nadu has made gains, and is moving closer to double that of Kerala. Productivity in Tamil Nadu rose from 13136 to 13852 nuts per hectare. -Adapted from Business Line, February 1, 2012]

 

It is only a matter of months for them to overtake us! Hail these farmers!

 

A P