COIMBATORE: Thousands of coconut farmers in Pollachi, Anaimalai, Kinathukadavu, and Udumalai taluks in Coimbatore and Tiruppur districts have been felling the entire plantations they had nurtured lovingly for years as they could not stand the pain of seeing their trees wither due to lack of water.
According to sources, around 2.5 crore fully grown coconut trees in 1.6 lakh hectares of land are facing an imminent threat. Nearly 50% of these trees may perish in this unprecedented heat due to lack of adequate water for irrigation.
“Over the last two weeks, I had cut around 200 of the 500 coconut trees in my farm as they had withered due to scorching heat and lack of water. If I had delayed cutting down these trees, I would not have got even the Rs 1,000 which I’m getting now for the chopped timber. Two months ago, the price offered for each tree was Rs 2,500,” said KR Kalyanakumar, a farmer in Kasipattinam in Pollachi.
Farmers rued that they could not save the trees despite spending Rs 1,500 to Rs 1,800 on water tankers (6,000 liters per load) to irrigate them as the groundwater has plummeted to record lows. Due to the rise in number of trees withering due to lack of water, sawmill owners, too, are declining to buy the timber claiming that it’s becoming difficult for them to handle the large number of tree wood arriving every day.
S Dhandapani, a sawmill owner from Thamaraikulam in Kinathukadavu taluk, said “In the last one month, I have received more than 100 calls per day from farmers for selling wood. But I started declining the calls as I could not handle so much timber. Earlier, a withered tree timber used to weigh more than a tonne and we offered Rs 2,500 to Rs 3,000. Now even two trees do not weigh a tonne.
On Monday, I gave Rs 50,000 to a farmer for chopped trees. Forget about profit, traders, who take wood for construction purposes, are not ready to offer even the price that I offered to farmers.” The timber has become so weak due to lack of water that it cracks within a day of the tree being felled, sources said.
‘Even 15 water tankers not enough for my 150 trees’
KS BalachandranALACHANDRAN, a farmer from Kanjampatti near Udumalai, said, “Though I am a big farmer, I could not save my trees. I bought 15 water tankers per day but it was not enough. We use tanker water for around 150 trees (2 acres).
There is heavy demand for tankers as every farmer in my village needs water and started calling for the tanker. Earlier in the season, a tanker cost was Rs 1,200. Now it has gone up to Rs 1,800. The cost of water increases depending on the distance between the source of water and the farm.”
P Sundaraj, a farmer from Pollachi East, said he lost 60 out of 250 trees on his four acres of land. Kalayanakumar said sawmill operators are thinking twice about accepting withered native trees and completely reject timber of hybrid variety coconut trees.
TA Krishnasami, president of South India Coconut Growers Association, said, “I have never seen this kind of drought in my 88 years of life. Even palmyra trees, which can sustain drought, are dying. We are clueless on how to save tree around 2.5 crore of trees in the 1.6 lakh hectare in the region.”
Speaking to TNIE, V Geethalakshmi, Vice Chancellor of Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, said, “A minimum of 40 litres of water is required for a coconut tree per day. Normally, we get some amount of summer showers in April. It would save coconut trees from withering. But this time, summer shower has completely failed. TNAU is helpless as trees cannot be saved without water.”
2.5CR coconut trees in tn face threat
40 1 tree needs 40 litres of water a day
No takers for wood
Cost of 6,000 litres of tanker water has gone up from `1,200 to `1,800. Sawmills are refusing to buy chopped timber as it is becoming difficult for them to handle the large number of axed coconut trees arriving every day for sale