Recently, the Chennai city witnessed an hot debate on the extraction of toddy or ban on toddy where a group of people for extraction and few against. One among the speakers were Mr. Kumari Anandhan, the former president of Tamil Nadu Congress Party and former Chairman of Palmyrah Welfare Board of Tamil Nadu Government. This debate has been on for many years. The first ban was in place by the British Government in 1921 and later on, it was revoked. After independence, it was insisted that the palmyrah tappers' must obtain license, otherwise, the trade would be illicit. This put intense pressure on the poor palmyrah workers. In the year 1987, when the foreign liquor was allowed, a total ban on toddy extraction was imposed. People who are FOR extraction of palm toddy argue that palm toddy contains only 4.5% of alcohol and also refer the report of Justice Sivasubramanian commission, which recommends that toddy tapping is not illegal and toddy itself is a frothy drink food for locals.
From my own experience, working with palmyrah toddy tappers, wherever I go for the field work, I happen to see the frustration of the tappers. The agitation is still on against the ban on toddy tapping. Me, along with my students, young volunteers would never plunge into that debate. At the same time, we understand their problems of frequent harassment from police for not having licences or sometimes arrest even if they have license suspecting that they are extracting toddy. The major setback for them is their classification under Kadhi and not in agriculture sector. That is why, we organized the so-called existing associations for palmyrah tappers, but not functioning effectively and invited government officials, including police for constructive discussions. To distribute micro-credit for palmyrah tappers, we involve local police for the program to build an understanding.
From my own observations for the past seven years, palmyrah trees and tappers' trade can be saved if we adapt some logical methods where we could also ask for government help.
1. The major thing to be debated in various platforms is the inclusion of palmyrah tree and trade in agriculture sector by the government so that the tappers could avail all the facilities like subsidies from the government, which is given to small farmers.
2. The forgotten techniques like growing intercrops with palmyrah trees can be taught to the tappers to earn substantial and additional income, which in turn would redeem them from loans. Moreover biodiversity also can be preserved by adapting this method.
3. Awareness should be created among tappers through workshops and programs that palmyrah tree is an income-generating tree. For this, market space should be created for all palmyrah food products like neera, palm candy, jaggery, ice apple, and palm fruits through innovative methods.
4. The present government has ordered to distribute mango juice to the balwadi children and school children along with mid-day meals. As Mr. Kumari Anandhan has said, neera also can be kept in TetraPak and distributed to children because it contains lauric acid which is found in breast milk. It is good for bone, memory power, and eyesight.
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| Neera with ice apple (nungu) in an eco-friendly pot |
5. Researchers in technology can be motivated to design an instrument to extract neera from palmyrah tree which would ease the risky job of tappers.
Along with my team, I tried several methods to encourage the tappers in their trade. Through various steps like microinsurance, micro-credits, and developing innovative produce from the traditional palmyrah products, we are able to turn them into successful entrepreneurs in few villages of Tamil Nadu. For example, we innovated a bread-spread from the traditional 'paagu' by mixing fruits like mango, papaya, and banana. It is well-received by school children, adults, and even diabetic patients. When I interacted with the palmyrah association leader in Tuticorin, he came forward with the idea of making flour from panankizhangu to make our traditional and tasty food and snacks like idli, upmaa, dosai, and murukku. Even neera can be converted into powder by which we can make mix. Researchers should come forward to analyze such products.
I strongly believe that only practical orientation could help palmyrah tappers to save the glorious palmyrah tree as well as their trade. It is my long dream to have a model palm grove, where we can impart the technical skills to the tappers. In this process, we have applied for Rolex Awards for Enterprise 2012, which support individuals, who involve themselves in creating better tomorrow for human kind. From 1978, environmental projects have been awarded for 38 individuals. Our project for palmyrah tree, which preserves the ecological balance, also has been selected in the pre-application process and I was invited to submit a full proposal, which I did. When I share this privilege with environmental well-wishers, I urge everyone to take steps to save our state tree, which has 2500 years of history in our life, culture, and heritage.
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