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BBC NEWS | World | South Asia | Salt problems for Andaman farmers
<http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/4534914.stm>
        
Last Updated: Monday, 23 January 2006, 15:42 GMT
Salt problems for Andaman farmers
By Subir Bhaumik
BBC News, Wandoor and Choldhari, southern Andamans

Farmer Jogen Mondal (left)
Jogen Mondal (left) has enjoyed more luck than other farmers

When last year's tsunami wiped out his village and submerged his crop land in Choldhari in India's southern Andamans, 
Jogen Mondal felt all was lost.

But several months of heavy rains drained out the saline water from his fields and the cultivator from then-East 
Pakistan (now Bangladesh) proudly says that his paddy field proves a point.

"When experts told us nothing would grow on these fields submerged by sea water, we just told them to build sea walls 
that would prevent regular flooding during high tides and leave the rest to us," says Mr Mondal.

He says the Andaman Chief Secretary DS Negi took their advice more seriously 
than that of the agriculture experts.

"He pushed for the speedy construction of sea walls in Choldhari, Mitakhari and Sippyghat to help farmers reclaim huge 
tracts of tsunami-hit land," says Mr Mondal.

Ravaged

Some of the settler-farmers of the south Andamans have grown a good crop this 
season.

"My yield is better than last year," says Choldhari farmer, Nayan Patra.

Nayan Patra in a paddy field
Farmer Nayan Patra's paddy fields are now free of saline

But many other areas in Choldhari and elsewhere in the southern Andamans are 
still under sea water.

"We need ploughs and bullocks, seeds and power tillers, fresh water and power and we can reap a good harvest," says Shri 
Singh, a Choldhari farmer.

"But the government has to drain out the saline water, it is beyond our means to 
do that."

The tsunami ravaged 13,350 hectares of plantation and 3,950 of paddy land - almost one-third of the total crop land in 
the archipelago.

India's Central Agriculture Research Institute, which said only two-thirds of this could be reclaimed, suggested a four 
layered agriculture plan for the archipelago, with the focus on high-value commercial cultivation.

The plan involves:

    * Planting and reviving mangroves on beaches to provide a bio-shield 
against tidal waves

    * Away from the coast, but within the high tide level, planting 
high-value, saline-resistant crops like morinda

    * Beyond the high-tide level, planting rice, vegetables, coconuts and 
betel nuts

    * In hilly, undulating terrain, developing horticulture

"Only high-value agriculture can make cultivation a cost-effective occupation here," says institute scientist DR Singh. 
But he admits that will take some time and much investment to happen.

The farmers, however, insist on sea walls to keep tides out of crop lands 
they have developed over the past 50 years.

"The islands cannot start importing rice from the mainland, we have to at least grow our local requirements here," says 
Jogen Mondal.

Court case

But though this year's heavy rains drained out saline water in many tsunami-hit areas, the farmers live in dread of 
submergence during high tides.

The sea walls are made of mud and can collapse.

Fish
Damage to coral reefs has affected fish stocks

A public interest case challenging the wisdom of constructing mud sea walls 
is pending before a local court.

"There's so much federal resettlement money here, so we want the walls to be either made of stronger stuff or replaced 
by bio-shields," argues one of the petitioners, Ram Kumar. "Farmers should not suffer a false sense of safety."

Fishing, the other major source of livelihood here, is also in jeopardy.

Many fishermen are yet to get fishing boats to replace those they lost in the tsunami. And those who have got them 
complain of poor catches.

"Only those who could run after politicians got their boats and I could not do that. So I am still waiting for my boat," 
says fisherman Shankar Das.

Jiban Kirtaniya, a fisherman at Wandoor, also on the south Andaman coast, adds: "Before the tsunami, we could catch 250 
to 300kg of fish in a three to four day cycle. Now we barely get 50kg and that cannot meet our costs."

Marine biologists say the earthquake and the tsunami destroyed the coral reefs around the Andamans, forcing fish to 
deeper waters.

"It will be a while before the fish come back to the reefs. The damage to them is considerable," says Sumitra Sen, a 
marine biologist working with the Society for Andaman and Nicobar Ecology (Sane).

"Unless the government gives us some price support now, we will starve," says 
fisherman Laxman Bala.

Manoj Khara, a wholesaler of fish and marine products, adds: "We have to develop aquaculture and deep sea fishing by 
promoting fishery cooperatives and we also need to develop a value-added export market."