Cyclone Gaja: Our lives uprooted with trees, will take 25 years to recover, say devastated coconut farmers in Tamil Nadu

The storm has passed but the remnants of destruction caused by it can still be seen along the long swathes of land in Tamil Nadu's Gaja affected districts. While homes and crops destroyed by the cyclonic storm will be rebuild and regrown in a few months, coconut farmers say it will take 25 years for them to recover from the destruction. 

On Wednesday, a week after the storm, a coconut farmer in Thanjavur district said Gaja has sent them back by 25 years in time by destroying their livelihoods. Coconut farmers in Cauvery Delta districts in Tamil Nadu stare at a huge loses with preliminary official estimates show that over 40 lakh coconut trees were uprooted by the cyclonic storm Gaja which devastated homes and crops on its path.

“It will take at least 25 years to catch up with our losses as the cyclone not only uprooted the coconut trees but our lives too in one night,” said S Vairavan of Kuruvikkarambai village in Thanjavur district.

The cultivators of perennial crops like coconut which are not covered under any insurance policy fear a lifetime loss as they cannot imagine replanting of trees in the near future.

“Over two lakh coconut trees, many of age over 25 years, have fallen flat in the cyclonic storm. Even few of the standing trees are of no use and need to be cut down,” Vairavan said. 

In his 12 acre land, he said that the cyclone uprooted 1010 trees which were providing him with an income of Rs 15 lakh per year. 

“I have planted teak and mango trees in my 12 acres of land along with coconut trees. Now I have lost everything when I should be earning good revenue for putting out 30 years of hard work,” he said. 

He added that not only farmers but lakhs of labourers on the farm have also lost their livelihood. 

Though the paddy was the main crop in the delta districts, the farmers in Thanjavur’s Peravurani, Pattukottai and Orathanadu taluks; Pudukottai’s Alangudi and Aranthangi taluks and Thiruvarur’s Muthupettai taluk have shifted to coconut cultivation due to water shortage and also due to sustained income.

M Palanivel of Paingal village in Thanjavur said that on a sunny day, the sunlight would not fall on the ground in his village as the tall coconut trees would cover the entire land. “Now we are staring at the open sky as almost all the trees were uprooted,” he said. 

Six days after the cyclone, he said that no government official has visited his village or surrounding localities to provide either relief or take account of the losses. Rejecting the government compensation of Rs 2.64 lakh per hectare, he said that government should provide a compensation of Rs 25,000 per tree as replanting of coconut seedling would provide income only after 10 years.

Tamil Nadu Farmers Association general secretary P Shanmugham said that the compensation announced by the government for the coconut farmers are grossly inadequate. “We demand a compensation up to Rs 27,000 per tree based on its age as in the case of the package given to farmers who had surrendered their land for the development of the Chennai-Salem road project,” he said.