Charotar farmers lose crores of 'black gold'

Even as a lull in the rains provided some relief, over 100 submerged villages in the heartland of tobacco-rich Charotar region of flood-affected Anand district are slowly coming to terms with the reality "" losses to their crop which are expected to run in crores.

The flood waters, which wreaked havoc in the districts of south and central Gujarat, have submerged and destroyed the entire crop of 'black gold' (another name for tobacco here) belonging to about 10,000 farmers living in the tiny hamlet of Bhadran, about 50 kilometres from Anand.

"The loss is so phenomenal that it is difficult to describe it in words," Atul Patel, the sarpanch of the village, said. "One farmer of our village Manubhai Kushalbhai, alone has lost 6,000 quintals of tobacco after flood waters which were six feet-high drowned our village and seeped into his warehouse," Patel added.

"There are over 50 such big underground warehouses in this village alone which were stacked with tobacco crop which is nothing less than black gold for us," he said adding that his village alone produces about 50 thousand quintals of tobbaco leaves.

"The loss to our village will be nothing less than five crores," opined Madhu Patel, an 84-year-old farmer of the village, who has been through many such adversities. "Today the market price of tobacco is anywhere around Rs 500 for a quintal," Patel added. Similar losses has been incurred by tobacco-growing farmers of about 100 villages of Borsad and Petlad talukas of Anand district which grows the bulk of tobacco in the state, Patel said.

Most of the villages are still under water. The godowns which are located in the submerged areas of Bhadran village can only be accessed through a tractor. The only evidence of the location of the warehouses can be guessed by the floating tobacco leaves which have managed to stray from the bundle in the watery-grave in the godowns. "About 8,000 workers working in these warehouses have also been rendered jobless," Patel said. "These workers dry and process the green tobacco leaves which are harvested from November till February-March," he added.

Tobacco leaves, stacked in bundles weighing 2-3 kg each, turn black during the drying process, before finally being sold off to tobacco traders in October, Patel said explaining how the crop was damaged after all the hard work was completed.

Apart from the damage to the crops, about 400 houses have been partially or completely damaged. Around 1,000 people, whose houses were submerged are living in temporary shelters built on a high ground near a petrol pump on the outskirts of the village, sad Magan Desai, secretary of Bhadran's panchayat.

"The flood waters have also forced the only hospital in the village to be closed," Desai said adding the nearest hospital was ten kilometres away if any epidemic broke out.

"Several animals belonging to the Maldhari community were also washed away in the floodwaters and no help from any quarters has reached us after our village was submerged since the past five days," he added.

"All the hard work has been washed away," tobacco farmer Madhu Patel said adding that it will take at least another five years of good crop to recover this year's losses.