Sighting a tender coconut or a sugarcane juice vendor on roadside seems like a blessing on hot days.
S Ravana, 67, offers ‘neera’, a natural beverage in a 300 ml bottle, priced at ₹50 to those visiting the Dindigul Collectorate premises. His journey with the beverage began a few months before outbreak of COVID-19 in 2020 when he drank neera from K. Gopal, a vendor from Batlagundu at Uzhavar Sandhai in Dindigul.
“I liked the taste and it kept me brisk and refreshed. He delivered one litre of neera, for me and my wife on a daily basis and I missed it dearly during the lockdown,” he said.
Ravana, who was running a hotel in Dindigul for 16 years, was forced to shut down during the lockdown due to losses and he became a neera vendor as per Gopal’s advice.
“It has been more than a week since I began selling the beverage on the Collectorate campus after obtaining proper permission,” he said.
A lot of first-timers, especially children and youngsters try the drink and like it as much as I liked it when I had it for the first time, he added.
K. Gopal from Batlagundu has been engaged in neera business for four years now and is one of the directors of the Dindigul Coconut Producer Company, Batlagundu.
“It is very famous in Kerala and yet to gain traction in Tamil Nadu as there is not much awareness amongst the masses on the numerous nutritional benefits,” he said.
He owns a stall in Uzhavar Sandhai in Dindigul where he sells about 30 to 40 litres, between 7 a.m. and 4 p.m. regularly.
Having the naturally sweet drink helps to balance sugar level, cure ulcer, heart problem, kidney stones and anaemic problem, he said.
“The shelf life of neera is a maximum of three days as it starts fermenting thereafter,” said Mr Gopal. They would soon produce by-products like sugar and honey from neera, he added.
The shortage of labourers is a major hiccup in the trade, he said.
“Labourers working with us went to the Coconut Development Centre in Kasaragod and underwent rigorous training for 15 days. Not many come forward nowadays to learn the skill,” he said.
A farmer would get licence for tapping neera only after passing basic requirements of growing coconut palms of 10 feet tall on a completely organic farm, passing the soil quality check done by Tamil Nadu Agriculture College in Coimbatore etc.
Each tree can be tapped up to 2 litres of neera per day, said Mr Gopal, and 1 litre is priced at ₹150. The trees can be tapped for neera for six months a year at a stretch and they are left to rejuvenate for the rest of the year, he added.
“The tapped neera of 100 litres per day in three farms in Batlagundu is bottled and distributed across Theni, Palani, Karaikudi and Dindigul as of now,” he said.
They will shortly resume sales in Uzhavar Sandhai in Madurai too, he added.
