In the midst of the chirping of birds in the early morning, the shrill manmade call and a similar response from the other side alerted the village ward that the toddy tappers were at work. That call has now turned rare. This now has the narrative of a tale from a bygone era.
If you sometimes wonder why it is difficult to get a bottle of toddy even if you are willing to pay the sum demanded, it’s because there are just 861 toddytappers in the business today, down from 3000 a decade ago.
Interest in the activity is reducing dramatically, not because of a drop in earning capacity but because of the stigma attached with being landless and from being part of a low caste. Considered an outcaste and fearing for the future prospects of his children, the protagonist decides to just let go and move on. This is what is happening in the coconut feni industry. It is on the verge of collapse as it is dependent on toddy tappers whose numbers are dwindling rapidly.
The toddy tapper, popularly called “rendeiro” has been traditionally seen as a landless class and hence a has had a social caste stigma attached to him. While he went about his work, he had little time to fight for his own rights and there was very little support given to toddy tapper.
Hansel Vaz, the man behind Cazulo Premium Feni, who not only produces cashew feni but is also one of the last few producers of coconut feni with several flavours, believes that the coconut feni industry is on the verge of collapse and requires immediate attention.
“I have been working with toddy tappers for over a decade and they do not want to be considered as an out caste. In fact they feel if they continue with this profession, their children will not get married. The stigma has been two pronged – one was with being landless and the other was of belonging to the lower caste. The profession is remunerative but they do not want to talk about it and they have turned lately into taxi drivers,” Vaz said.
Even though a litre of toddy costs Rs 200 and each tree can give three to four litres of toddy a day, the tappers are unwilling to take up this lucrative business. They are now taking up professions like driving a car or a taxi but not willing to climb up the tree, Vaz added.
All Goa Toddy Tappers Association president Remmie Borges is 50 year old and still climbs the coconut tree to fetch toddy. On an average he, along with other rendeiros, collects a little over 25 litres of toddy every day. This quantity is already pre-booked by buyers, especially those who are into production of toddy vinegar, jaggery and ‘sanna’. He informed Herald that in 2019 he had met the Chief Minister of Goa to apprise him of the issues faced by the toddy tappers and got an assurance that they would support the association.
“According to our records there are over 4000 members in our association but only 861 people are real toddy tappers in Goa. A decade ago there were over 3000 tappers but it is now rapidly decreasing and hence coconut feni is also going off the shelf. People are now interested in fancy bottles which we cannot provide. In fact we are struggling to get ‘dudina’ (a plastic container) as all earthenware pots have vanished so have the ‘kathi’ (sickle) makers,” Borges said.
Charlie D’Silva is an active toddy tapper and an entrepreneur who also runs Goa Green Tours and Travels near Betul for the last 20 years. He shows how feni is distilled, and how potteries, doormats are madeetc. For the last three years he has been trying to revive the culture of toddy tapping. “Coconut feni is lost in Goa. It is the only feni which can be served in different variants and flavours like dukhshree, lemon grass, cumin seeds etc. This is not possible with cashew feni. Coconut feni is derived only from toddy and there is no mixture of any liquid. It is pure nectar (toddy) out of the coconut tree which is fermented and then distilled,” D’Silva said.
He added that a tree could give around two to three litres of toddy per day provided the trees had three spades (layers) to cut. “Cutting of the spade is done three times a day but the collection of toddy is in the morning and in the evening. We used to get around 15 to 20 litres of toddy from 15 trees but now after the cyclone we have stopped tapping. Tapping is dependent on factors like weather and wind. Even the razor ‘kathi’, which is used to slash the tree stems for toddy tapping is only made by one person in all of Goa. The potters too have literally vanished. It is tough time for this business,” D’Silva told Herald.
He lamented that caste is an issue with the toddy tappers community and since coconut feni is expensive, people are now going for IMFL liquor, which has better bottling and social acceptance. “Now a day’s very few people offer their guests feni. Majority of them either serve beer, whisky or other products. Problem is we never promoted feni. The younger generation in Goa are also attracted to IMFL liquor over feni as they are not willing to pay the price of coconut feni,” D’Silva added.
Shweta Gaonkar, an agriculture graduate from Amdai in Sanguem, believes there are hardly 160 toddy tappers in Goa right now. She claims to be the first lady toddy tapper in the State where toddy tapping traditionally is considered to be masculine fiefdom. “In this new generation very few people take interest in toddy tapping. I think the most common reason why people have no interest is because people consider climbing a coconut tree and tapping toddy as hard work, which is not at all difficult, I have personal experience,” Gaonkar informed Herald.
She added that she had given hands on training to more than 50 farmers from all over Goa in toddy tapping in collaboration with Don Bosco in Odxel. Ending on a positive note, she said, “From which many of them have started tapping in their own coconut trees. I feel happy to say that now even young generation also shown interest in toddy tapping.”