As hundreds of migrant workers stranded in different parts of Tamil Nadu are being identified and sheltered in government houses amid the coronavirus scare, there is another category of people who have been left in the lurch due to the lockdown -- the farmers and traders of perishable commodities. Most of them now run the risk of losses due to the closure of interstate borders and severe restrictions in transportation within the state.
While the government had announced that essential goods like vegetables, fruits and milk will be available seamlessly, farmers have had to face uncertainty and obstruction at the ground level due to the lockdown orders. It was only on Sunday, five days after the state-wide lockdown came into effect that the government of Tamil Nadu eased the restriction on agriculture-related activities.
66-year-old Ayilai Sivasooriyan is a farmer from Trichy, who is staring at losses due to the lockdown this year. He grows bananas and jasmine in his 1.5-acre land in the outskirts of Trichy.
“Banana is a single year crop. It grows for around 10 months and now is the time for harvest. Because the transport is being stopped everywhere due to the lockdown, we are not able to take the fruits to the markets for sale,” he tells TNM.
Nendhram variety of banana, which he has cultivated over the last 10 months has a huge market in Kerala and Karnataka. However, due to the closure of the inter-state borders, the bananas have nowhere to go. Sivasooriyan also points out that though the government of Tamil Nadu has revoked the ban on transportation of agricultural produce, the ground reality is in stark contrast to the government’s expectations.
For KK Ayyappan, the Treasurer of Coimbatore District Flower Traders Association, the bad time for the flower producers and traders in the district began way before the lockdown came into force.
“Most of our produce goes to Kerala and the situation was bad there even before our state locked down. Hence we have been facing a very bad situation for the last 10-12 days due to coronavirus,” says Ayyappan, who is a flower farmer himself.
The situation is sombre across the spectrum -- vegetables, fruits, flowers, and fish.
Dominic, a fisherman from Kanyakumari district in Tamil Nadu, says that the revenue for fishes caught by deep-sea fishermen has taken a hit due to the lack of transportation options. “The fish we get from the deep sea are being sold for half price since we are at the mercy of those who can come till the coast and pick it up. In fact, some stock is still being kept in the boats now since there is no way to reach them to the markets,” he points out.
Sivasooriyan points out that due to the state-wide curfew in the movement of people and vehicles, farmers have had to face huge losses even when they manage to get a seller to pick the produce from the farm directly. “The lockdown has restricted the movement severely. But even if one or two traders do manage to come out, they are paying us dirt cheap prices for the produce. For example, we are forced to sell the bananas for Rs 10 per kilogram, while the cost of production itself is around Rs 15 per kilogram,” he explains.
Farmers like Sivasooriyan still part with their harvest only because the other option is to let the fruits rot in the field itself. Thyagarajan, another farmer in Trichy, is not too worried since he harvested paddy from his fields a couple of months ago. “Personally I don’t have a problem since mine is paddy and it can be stored. Also since I had harvested a few months ago, most of my produce is already in the market,” he says.
On the other hand, flower farmers and traders have it harder. While vegetables and fruits are classified as ‘essential goods’, flowers do not fall under that category. Hence the state-wide exemption doesn’t apply to those who are transporting flowers from one place to another.
“Coimbatore flower market receives around 200 tonnes of flowers every day. Now all of it is going waste either here or in the fields itself since there is nobody to purchase flowers. Only if people come out will they think of wearing flowers on their hair,” says Ayyappan. He adds that he has spent Rs 12,500 last week on labour charges to pluck the flowers in his farm alone without any revenue from the harvest.
“We cannot leave the flowers on the plant itself since it will end up spoiling the plant. Flower farmers always tend to get the shorter end of the stick by suffering losses over a large period of time. This season is usually busy for us, since there are muhurthams (auspicious days). But the lockdown doesn’t seem to be ending anytime soon. Hence we are unsure how to compensate for this loss,” he explains.
The story is similar for around 200 families that depend on selling fish and seafood in Coimbatore’s fish market. “We are not getting any stock since the past week or so due to shut down and hence there is nothing for us to sell here. When the trains and buses were running, we used to have around Rs 500 a day to take home. Now due to the closure of borders, nothing is coming in and we can’t do anything about it,” says MAH Abbas, who runs a shop in the market.
Sivasooriyan, who is also the District Secretary of Tamizhaga Vivasayigal Sangam says that the government of Tamil Nadu could be proactive in helping farmers reach their produce to the markets.
“The government has the capability to procure the harvest at the zonal level and then undertake the transportation themselves. We can bear the losses for a day or two, but for 15-20 days at a stretch, who can do that?,” he asks. More deaths will happen due to this among farmers than due to coronavirus, if the situation continues like this, he adds.