The Nipah scare is taking a toll on the toddy business in the district. Since the viral infection outbreak was reported at Perambra on May 19, healthcare experts have been asking the public to avoid drinking toddy. The reason cited is that the Indian fruit bat might contaminate the palm sap with Nipah virus.
“Initially, people were afraid to drink fresh or fermented toddy after a section of the media created a scare about it. The scare persists even now but it is temporary,” P.A. Chandrasekharan, secretary of the Toddy Tappers Union (CITU), told The Hindu here on Wednesday.
Unlike earlier, he said, the tapping and brewing of toddy is done in a scientific manner. The implements used for tapping had improved over the years. Bats can’t contaminate the sap with their saliva or urine, he said adding that Excise rules allow shops to maintain toddy only for 48 hours and after that the toddy is disposed of.
Over 200 toddy shops function in the four taluks of Kozhikode, Vadakara, Koyilandy and Thamarassery in the district. Regular customers have stopped drinking since the past one week. “But things appear to be improving after reports that the outbreak is a localised occurrence and that the disease is under control,” said Mr. Chandrasekharan, also a member of the Kerala Toddy Workers Welfare Fund Board.
However, business at the air-conditioned and non-air-conditioned sections of the shop near the Kozhikode Government Medical College, usually teeming with customers, has taken a hit now. This was one of the shops, apart from the one at Purakkattiri, known for native cuisines out of the 33 shops in the city that had been doing brisk business earlier, he said.
Both coconut and palm toddy are popular in Kozhikode.
The total production of toddy in the district is between 15,000-16,000 daily. There are nearly 2,000 people employed in the sector.
