Palmyra is synonymous with Tamil Nadu. It was interwoven with the life of every rural family in the past. Palmyra was popular not only for the drinks like toddy, sweet toddy, fruits and tuber, but also for the numerous other benefits it offers – from timber to leaves.
Unfortunately, this permanent crop that thrived with less human contribution for its growth has been losing its importance among the masses over the decades. The city residents are reminded of the palm only during the summer when its translucent ‘nungu’ (ice apple) or sweet toddy are sold on the roadsides.
The widening gap between common man and the robust palm is basically due to fast urbanisation, change in lifestyle, advancement in plastic science and State government’s policy on prohibition.
“Palmyra was all over our district. They grew on their own without any need for irrigation. It never required any fertilizer or pesticide, but a regular maintenance,” said P. Arumugam (83) of Ayyampatti near Alagarkoil.
His life and livelihood centred around palms since his childhood. The septuagenarian said most of the palm groves had given way to urbanisation.“Who wants palm and palm products these days,” he rued. The economy of palm farmers was based on its jaggery (karuppatti), toddy and sweet toddy (pathaneer) and also its leaves that were used to put up thatched roof.
The first blow to palmyra was when sugar extracted from sugarcane started gaining popularity. “That was the first point, when palmyra started to lose its sheen,” said coordinator of Tamil Nadu Toddy Movement C. Nallasamy.
Before Independence, palmyra jaggery was the only means of sweetness in Tamil Nadu. But, now 46 sugarmills here have pushed jaggery to a remote corner.
“People have a craze for white sugar. And this craze has killed palmyra farming and also left a good size of population diabetic,” he said. Fast urbanisation and lifestyle changes rendered the palm leaves less useful. Most of the rural families used palm leaves for putting up roofs, fences, huge shelters and sheds for the cattle. But roof tiles reduced the demand for palm leaves.
However, palm’s importance was still there in its timber used for putting up roof. Later, the advent of steel and asbestos sheets made it redundant. “The city and the villages have concrete structures and this has made palms irrelevant in day-to-day usage to a larger extent,” said Pannerselvam (45), son of Mr. Arumugam. He left his family occupation and became a driver.
It was the State Government’s prohibition policy of introducing arrack and later Indian-made Foreign Liquor and replacing toddy that dealt a fatal blow to palms, accused Mr. Nallasamy.
“It was a mindless move by the powers-that-be to replace the healthy toddy with liquor which has become a major evil in society,” he added.
Consequently, the number of palms were reduced to 5 crore in Tamil Nadu from 50 crore in the mid 1900s,” he said.
The advent of nylon ropes and polythene bags nullified the usage of palm leave baskets and palm fibre ropes. Even the hand-held fans, baskets used to pack eatables and rattles for babies that were made of palm leaves are now in plastic.
“However, some kinds of baskets are still alive due to traditional needs in processions and even funeral rituals,” said Pusphalatha (40), who weaves baskets for her daily expenses.
Now, palm climbers are a rarity. “I am dependent on three persons who can climb palmyras and cut nungu,” said V. Thangaraj (29). Thangaraj has taken on lease some 100 palms along Alagarkoil-Melur highway from State Highways department.
With palmyra being useful only during the nungu season, one of the palm climbers, V. Karuppasamy (22), said he went for other farm works on other days. “It is very risky. But, this fetches me good money,” the youth said. However, he said he could climb only five to six palms a day.
“We risk our lives to bring nungu to the doorsteps of the people despite increasing labour and transportation cost. But, people still want to buy it at a price that is not remunerative,” Mr. Thangaraj lamented.
A discouraging trend
“If the same trend continued for another few years, all palmyras will vanish and no one will be involved in this traditional farming,” Mr. Nallasamy said.
He wanted the government to bring in a legislation to make cutting of palmyras a non-bailable offence. “If the government is really interested in encouraging palmyra farming, it should withdraw subsidy to sugar sold in ration shops. Instead, the subsidy should be extended to jaggery,” he added.
However, the biggest encouragement would be lifting of the ban on tapping toddy. He had thrown up a challenge with a prize money of ₹10 crore to anyone who proved that the IMFL was a better than toddy health-wise.
Toddy and nungu were highly rich in vitamins and minerals. “If toddy is properly packed and exported, it will bring in huge foreign exchange and revive the livelihood of farmers,” Mr. Nallasamy added.