THE STATES

Tapping trouble

The Karnataka government lifts the ban on the tapping of neera, but the decision angers the arrack trade.

SROBONA ROY CHOUDHURY
in Bangalore

THE Karnataka government's decision to allow the tapping and sale of neera (fresh toddy), a decision made apparently under pressure from coconut farmers, has not gone down well with the arrack lobby in the State. Within a week of the October 27 decision clashes erupted between neera tappers and arrack sellers at Keeralu village in Mysore district after a neera tapper was attacked allegedly by an excise contractor. Villagers burnt down arrack shops and set fire to a jeep belonging to an excise contractor. The arrack lobby fears that neera will replace arrack as the drink of choice at the level of the masses. This could mean losses for contractors who had obtained arrack licences at auctions.

V. SREENIVASA MURTHY
Tapping neera in Karnataka.

The ban on tapping neera became controversial after coconut prices crashed from around Rs.4 a nut to Re. 1 last year. Import of coconuts at cheap rates combined with the spread of the Eriophyid mite or black caterpillar disease since 1998 triggered the fall in prices.

The disease has affected 78 lakhs of the total 700 lakh trees grown on 320,000 hectares in 13 districts of the State. The mite infects tender coconuts and causes them to fall off prematurely. An officially estimated 12 crore nuts, valued at around Rs.30 crores, are lost annually. "The copra or white of a nut was earlier sold at Rs.5. But the disease leaves the copra discoloured and shrivelled and nobody buys it," said K. Krishnappa, a coconut vendor in Chennapatna.

With scientists in the State failing to find a cure for the disease, the farmers came up with a solution: tapping neera. "When neera is tapped, the tree is unable to bear fruit. Without fruit to infect, the mite either dies or moves to another place," said Tirumala Gowda, a neera tapper. The tapping had to be done for one or two years to eradicate the mite, he added.

Neera has become an alternative source of income for farmers. It is sold at Rs.10 a litre. "A tree can produce five to six litres of neera a day," said a tapper. The Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha (KRRS), which represents farmers' interests, asserts that neera is a byproduct of coconut and can be converted into health products such as jaggery and candy.

The State government was initially against lifting the ban on neera without scientific proof that tapping it provided a cure for the mite menace. It feared that if tapping was allowed neera would be sold as toddy, which Karnataka banned in 1992. Besides, it could affect the market for tender coconuts because tapping neera would bring down the coconut output. The government, according to excise officials, also stood to lose around Rs.400 crores in excise revenue if neera was legalised. However, the government has now decided to amend the Karnataka Excise Act to impose excise duty on neera.

The stand-off between farmers and the government turned violent on October 9 when the police gunned down two farmers at Vittalenaahalli in Chennapatna taluk, not far from Bangalore. The previous day the villagers had blocked the Bangalore-Mysore Road as part of their agitation. At about 3 a.m. on October 9, a police team went to the village and started rounding up the protestors. However, the villagers chased away the policemen. Sub-Inspector Rajendra Kumar, who led the force, then returned with additional forces and opened fire on the village residents, killing two of them and causing injuries to many. Kumar was placed under suspension. The incident came as a shock to the farmers. "Before this incident the police had never stopped us from tapping neera or selling it," said a village resident. They held the government responsible for the police firing and demanded an apology from it and an inquiry into the incident.

Subsequently, the government announced the lifting of the ban on neera. Under the new arrangement, farmers must form a cooperative and get a licence from the Excise Department to sell neera. According to Agriculture Minister Prof. T.B. Jayachandra, the decision was taken in the interest of farmers. He said that during the controversy the impression was created that the State government was anti-farmer. He hoped the decision on neera would prove that was not the case.

Jayachandra maintained that neera was banned only after evidence showed that it was being mixed with chloral hydrate. He pointed out that neera was not banned in the districts of Udupi and Dakshina Kannada because farmers there used it as a health drink.

Matters seemed to have been sorted out to the satisfaction of all concerned until the attack on a neera seller at Keeralu village in Mysore gave a new twist to the issue. The villagers alleged that the attack was orchestrated by the local arrack contractor. According to them, on November 2 a jeep knocked down Lingappa, a neera tapper, when he was on his way to the market on his two-wheeler. The village residents said that after he was knocked down, the men in the jeep assaulted Lingappa until the villagers intervened. Angry persons then burnt down arrack shops, seized a truck carrying arrack and set ablaze an arrack contractor's jeep, which, they alleged, had knocked down Lingappa.

Meanwhile, the government is continuing its efforts to find a means to check the mite menace. It has sanctioned a grant of Rs.90 crores to develop a control mechanism against the disease. Of this Rs.40 crores will be spent on providing free fertilizers and the rest on improving market conditions. Premier research institutes in the State such as the Coconut Development Board (CDB) of Karnataka and the University of Agricultural Sciences (UAS) are working to find a weapon. According to CDB Chairman Dr. P. Rethinam, the recommended treatment includes the spraying of sulphur or a mixture of neem oil, garlic juice and soap and the use of neem-based pesticides or fertilizers. The CDB was working with the UAS on the development of an experimental bio-pesticide.

He emphasised that neera could not replace coconut-based products as a source of income. While the market for coconut and its byproducts includes North India too, neera was "the drink for the common man in South India". He cautioned that without a proper marketing system production could exceed demand and lead to a financial crisis far worse than the one caused by the mite. Moreover, neera usually ferments into toddy within 24 hours of its extraction, and so even though farmers claimed that they had the technology to preserve neera for six months, Rathinam feared that it would be sold as toddy.

The KRRS, however, has offered to form a cooperative to market the preserved neera and its byproducts. KRRS chief M.D. Nanjundaswamy explained the method of preservation: "The bottle of neera is kept in a water bath and the water is slowly heated to about 90§C for about 20 minutes. It is then taken out and cooled to room temperature." He said there are already two private bottling plants, one in Chamarajanagar and the other in Shimoga, modelled on the bottling plants in Maharashtra.

Meanwhile, all parties concerned are waiting for the new excise rates to be announced. The KRRS said it would protest against the issuing of licences for neera tapping. According to Nanjundaswamy, a licence fee would mean an additional financial burden on the farmer. He also claimed that many officials in the Excise Department were in league with the arrack dealers.

While the government claimed that the Keeralu incident was an isolated one, many farmers fear that it may be the beginning of another struggle for them.