Coconut farmers receive Toddy Movement members released on bail.
That’s the intriguing title of a short piece from Tamil Nadu on the NewKerala.com website. It turns out that dozens of farmers had been thrown in jail a few days ago for tapping coconut toddy without the permission of the state government. The farmers claim that Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi has reneged on an election promise to rethink the ban on toddy in force in the state. So they started tapping and selling the beverage in their fields in protest. The reaction seemed a bit heavy-handed to me, but apparently toddy is a bit of a political hot potato (as it were) in Tamil Nadu:
In Tamil Nadu, this beverage is currently banned, though the legality fluctuates with politics. In the absence of legal toddy, moonshine distillers of arrack often sell methanol-contaminated alcohol, which can have lethal consequences. To discourage this practice, authorities have pushed for inexpensive “Indian Made Foreign Liquor” (IMFL), much to the dismay of toddy tappers.
Last year the Supreme Court upheld the right of the Tamil Nadu government to prohibit the manufacture, sale and consumption of toddy in the state (there is no ban in other states). The Chief Justice explained the decision in part thus:
“it is a policy decision of the State government. There is no fundamental right to manufacture or trade in liquor. The problem with toddy is it affects ordinary people in villages. Whisky or other liquor is not easily accessible to the common man.”
So that’s allright then. Now, the statement made in an article in The Hindu a few years back about the consequences of the ban for rural livelihoods may be a bit exaggerated:
The Salem district unit of National Agriculturalists Awareness Movement (NAAM) staged a demonstration here on Friday asking the State Government to allow toddy tapping… They said the denial of toddy tapping had ushered in poverty in rural areas.
But toddy must represent a significant contribution to the income of thousands of farming families — and no doubt has done for generations. And the ban may well be contributing to the disappearance of specialized coconut types. Why replant and tend varieties favoured for toddy if you can’t make the stuff?
Go on, Chief Minister Karunanidhi: legalize it!
Why make toddy if it is illegal in your area? Please observe national laws in your land. Instead of toddy, you can convert toddy into coconut sugar. Coconut sugar is very nutritious and very sweet and cannot cause diabetes mellitus since it has a very low Glycemic Index of 35. It is a high price commodity, you can export it in Japan or Australia if you want it. I am Roderic P. Roble, a coconut sugar consultant in our country-Philippines. I am working here as a government employee. I know how to convert coconut toddy into coconut sugar with nutritions intact. Please email me at rproble55@gmail.com. Please type organic coconut sugar at YOUTUBE and search for it. My son, Julien is now producing 2 tons of coco sugar per month. He has a group/company named Coco Sugbo.
Dear Mr. Roderic P. Roble.Greetings.Iam Ravi an Engineer from India.well said.Instead of begging to government, farmers should concentrate on other value added products(except toddy) from coconut,but where know how available,proper training for commercial production,marketting tie up& finance these are few questions standing before coconut growers of India.iam ready to do this job by establishing a training centre for coconut products manufacturing .Please provide the know how on coconut sugar.and assistance /grand to establish the centre.
ravi