Farmer kills himself after Cyclone Gaja destroys coconut farm

A 58-year-old farmer committed suicide after Cyclone Gaja uprooted hundreds of coconut trees in his farm in Tamil Nadu’s Thanjavur district, police have said, as farm leaders blamed the state government for offering a paltry compensation of Rs 1,700 against the loss.

Police said Sundar Raj from the district’s Sozhagankudikadu village allegedly consumed pesticide.

“As he had lost around 250 coconut trees, aged more than 25 years, in his five-acre land due to the cyclone, he looked dejected since last Thursday. Sundar Raj, who went to his devastated coconut farm on Wednesday night, did not return home till the morning. On a frenetic search, relatives found his body at a nearby graveyard in the village,” an inquiry officer said while speaking to the Hindustan Times.

Police have recovered an empty bottle of pesticide from near Raj’s body. They sent the body to the Orathanadu Government Hospital for an autopsy.

This is the second such suicide by a farmer in the state in the aftermath of the cyclone. A banana grower had ended his life on Wednesday.

PR Pandian, president of Federation of TN Farmer’s Associations, slammed the state government for announcing a paltry amount as compensation for coconut farmers.

“It takes nearly seven years for a coconut tree to start yielding. As such, the CM should have announced at least Rs 25,000 for per coconut tree that was uprooted. The announcement of an insignificant amount as compensation had driven Sundar Raj to death,” he said while speaking to HT.

Farmers say a coconut farm with 500 trees, aged more than 20 years, in the fertile Cauvery Delta region yields nearly Rs 15 lakh-Rs 20 lakh a year.

According to them, apart from coconut, other byproducts like the palm and the pulp used as raw material in the coir and paper industry also fetches them very good returns. The coir board units procure them in large quantities, they added.

With relief seemingly low and yet to reach them, farmers are now a worried lot.

First Published: Nov 23, 2018 14:52 IST