The price of free trade

Areca nut farmers are starving due to the opening up of the economy and the resulting price crash

The crisis in areca nut farming is a classic example of the ruinous impact of the World Trade Organisation regime on Indian agriculture and livelihoods. Karnataka and Kerala account for 72 per cent of the total production of 313,000 tonnes of areca in the country. As per official estimates, it is grown on 268,000 hectares by nearly 2,000,000 families in Karnataka, Kerala, Assam, Meghalaya, Orissa, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Maharashtra and Goa. Another one crore depend on this crop for survival as farm labourers, processing workers, petty traders and panwalas. Commercial cultivation of areca nut is carried out in India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. It is grown as a forest crop in Indonesia, Malaysia, Burma and some of the Pacific Ocean islands and hence has negligible production cost. Since Indian areca farmers cultivate this crop in a scientific manner with large investments, they cannot afford to sell it at the rates that southeast Asian farmers can ‘dump’ them into India. After areca nut was put on the ‘open general license’ list in 2000, its cheap imports have depressed the domestic rates and have destroyed the livelihoods of areca farmers and labourers in our country.

Apart from the price crash due to the opening up of the economy, the rapidly depleting water table as a result of indiscriminate growth in the areca plantations, has destroyed the livelihoods of farmers and farm-workers alike in Chennagiri taluka of Davangiri district in Karnataka. The crisis in the areca nut economy has spelt doom for the food security of communities dependent on them. The areca nut labourers are on the verge of starvation.

Kanchikanal is a big village in Chennagiri with around 700 families, of which 300 belong to the coolie (labour) community. From these, around 130 are of scheduled caste and ten are of scheduled tribe. Over 1,000 acres of land in Kanchikanal have been brought under areca nut cultivation with over 4,000 bore wells being drilled. Today, only 100 borewells have little water left in them. About 80 per cent of the total areca nut plantation has completely dried up and the remaining are on the verge of dying. The livelihood of the coolie community is dependent upon areca nut gardens, where they work as daily wage labourers. Earlier, till 1999, they used to get work around the year; now they get only two to three days of work in a week, at Rs 30 to 40 a day. They cannot survive on this meagre income and face deep economic distress. Already, some people are migrating to other villages in search of work and this trend is growing everyday.

Asked about their current economic condition, the areca labourers of Kanchikanal chorus, “We are not able to earn our livelihood. We do not get regular work and earn small amounts…Managing two meals a day is very difficult for us and we even go without food on some occasions. Our children are mostly dependent on the midday meals from the school, as they do not get anything to eat at home. Sometimes, we go on a diet of ganji (rice gruel) alone, or boiled leafy vegetables without rice or jowar. For at least two to three days in a week, we go without food and we have been starving in this way for months together…We are planning to migrate to different parts of the state and try to find some livelihood by doing odd jobs. Many people have already sent members of their family to distant villages to earn wages.”

The 300 families in Kanchikanal are completely dependent on daily wages earned from the areca nut gardens. When asked about their BPL (Below Poverty Line) cards, the villagers are confused; they do not know about the BPL scheme. Only six families have a green card with which they can procure food grains at subsidised rates from the government ration shop. The rest of the coolies buy rice at the rate of Rs 15 per kilograms from the open market.

The areca nut labourers get work for only eight to ten days in a month and are paid at the rate of Rs 25 to 30 per day as daily wage. When the economy of the village was booming due to the high areca nut prices, about four to five years ago, they would get Rs 100 per day as daily wage. Moreover, they used to get work for the whole year and both the husband and wife could easily earn Rs 200 per day. It is ironic that despite the abject poverty and starvation of villagers, only six of the 300 families have been considered as being below the poverty line. This shows the complete failure of the government system; government storehouses are overflowing with food grains, but these villagers have to purchase food at the rate of Rs 14 to 15 per kilogram. Even at the ration shop, they have to buy rice at Rs 8 per kg and wheat at Rs 6. Their children are totally dependent on schools for food through the mid-day meal scheme. On holidays, they have to starve or survive on ganji.

On an average, every farmer of Kanchikanal has Rs 400,000-500,000 as an outstanding loan and an accumulated interest over it. Most of the loans attract an interest of around 25 to 50 per cent per annum, taking up the debt burden to Rs 15 to 16 crores.

There is a new generation of areca labourers in Kanchikanal too. Many of the small and marginal areca growers of the village have also started going for daily wages because their plight is no less severe. These farmers have now joined the swelling numbers of areca labourers and their household food security system is completely ruined. What a terrible and tragic price of free trade!