Crosswinds in a cashew orchard

May 05, 2016 12:00 am | Updated 05:46 am IST - Cuddalore:

WILTING Hopes:Elderly women in Panruti say the only vocation they know is cracking cashew kernels.— Photo: T. Singaravelou

WILTING Hopes:Elderly women in Panruti say the only vocation they know is cracking cashew kernels.— Photo: T. Singaravelou

This is peak cashew season but most farmers in Panruti, Tamil Nadu’s cashew belt, have harvested less than a third of their usual volume. Recent heavy rain, and Cyclone Thane before that, uprooted or washed away several trees, and this time, most cashew flowers have simply dried up. In this election season, the farmers are also livid that they have not received any compensation for the damage caused by floods.

“The Horticulture Department had promised us hybrid saplings, but nothing has come our way. I have only a few cashew trees left in my field. As regards floods, not even the Rs. 5,000 that was promised has arrived. Nothing specific for cashew crops was announced,” said Nagarajan, who runs a packing unit.

He says he sells tender coconuts to make up for the loss in income.

“This time, people do not want to vote for the ruling party [the AIADMK]. They are upset that the government has not done anything for the cashew industry, which forms a large voter base in this area,” says S. Jesudas, a farmer from Santhipattu.

Low yield

From the 110 acres of land that usually yields about 500 bags of cashews a day, this time farmers in Panikkankuppam says they could manage just 15 bags of 80 kg each.

“Usually, we get about 500 bags from a piece of land that belongs to a temple and all of us take it on lease,” said A. Raj, a farmer, who has refused to sell his cashew harvest now as he prefers to peddle it in June when he has to pay for his children’s school fees.

Rain blamed

Farmers blame the heavy rain for the predicament. “Since supply is low, prices are volatile and big companies that export nuts want to buy up everything available. They have been announcing through loudspeakers that they will pay higher rates for unprocessed nuts. This means small units would not receive the raw material,” said R. Elango, who runs a small-scale unit for packing nuts.

Families in at least 15 villages, including Malayampattu, Andikuppam, and Mutharasapatti, are involved in cashew cultivation and processing. They have been calling for the withdrawal of a 9.36 per cent duty imposed by the Union government on import of raw cashew nuts.

“Only big companies will benefit from this. Since the crop failed this year, we won’t be able to provide year-round employment to people. Imported nuts from Africa and other places are brought in for processing,” Mr. Elango said.

Hard work

In an otherwise quiet neighbourhood in the region, the constant din of large pebbles knocking on the cement floor is the only noise. Seated on the ground, a group of senior citizens seems to be working faster than they appear to be able to. With a few taps of the stones, they break open cashew kernels covered in ash and throw the nuts into a container within seconds.

“Our hands, fingers and arms ache after the day-long work. But we cannot sit at home. We need to take care of our children, and in some cases, our sons demand money, many of them are alcoholics,” says Sakunthala, who seems adept at her work. Ask them who they plan to vote for and the reply is “why bother about it now.” Seceeli Chinnapparaj, who employs the women, says thanks to an NGO, they were able to arrange for a loan.

Panruti is livid that farmers have received no compensation for flood damage

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