BHUBANESWAR: Coronavirus and lockdown have come a blow for the betel vine cultivators who have been struggling to recover from the losses after cyclone Fani ruined their crops in the first week of May last year.The extended lockdown has not only disrupted the supply chain but pushed hundred of families depending on betel leaf trade to the brink of poverty. “I had spent around `80,000 to restore and renovate two of my betel vines (pana boroja in local parlance) that were ravaged by the cyclone. My hope of recovering from the loss before the onset of monsoon was blown away by coronavirus pandemic,” said Binod Mandal of Dekani village under Balikuda block of Jagatsingpur district.
With a small land holding of 3 acres, Binod (31) could manage his small family with an average annual income of `2.5 lakh from his betel vines. The fear of 4.0 lockdown is giving him sleepless nights.Similar is the condition of all betel farmers who are in deep distress due to uncertainty of the situation. “While the daily sale has come down to about 30 per cent, the price offered by traders is one-fifth of the actual cost. Earlier, 1,000 leaves were commanding a price of `600. Traders refused to pay more than `150 for the same number of leaves,” Mandal said.
The State Government has given passes to both, betel leaf farmers and traders for supply of ‘paan’ to the market. The relaxation is of no use as there is a ban on opening pan shops, he rued. Widely cultivated in costal districts of Balasore, Bhadrak, Jagatsinghpur, Jajpur, Kendrapara, Puri, Cuttack and Ganjam, there is a well established market for the heart shaped leaf in West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh (Varanasi) and Maharashtra, Mumbai in particular.
There is a drastic fall in the demand from these markets even after relaxation of Covid norms for transportation of agriculture and horticulture items. Betel cultivation being a highly labour intensive farming, a cultivator has to to spend at least `15,000 every month on a vine of 10,000 plants. With no income, the cultivators are facing immense hardship to upkeep their vines.
A highly sensitive crop, the State Government is yet to bring betel vines under specified items for covering it under crop insurance scheme. Apart from providing financial relief, the betel leaf farmers have urged the Government to protect them by bringing the crop under Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana.