Climate change: Heat waves and poor rainfall cause a decline in palm juice production

The area has seen a significant decrease in the extraction of palmyra juice, sometimes referred to as pathaneer, due to a number of issues. Researchers studying this particular variety of tree claim that the poor output is due to the unpredictable effects of climate change, but climbers of palm trees believe that the last summer’s low rainfall may have made matters worse.

Sources claim that pathaneer sales are still often seen on Tamil Nadu’s highways, especially in the summer. As the season approaches, tappers refine the palmyra trees’ flowers and gather the pathaneer that seeps into mud pots. To stop the raw sap from fermenting, lime will be applied to the inside of the pots.

It should be mentioned that pathaneer is a naturally occurring beverage that provides palmyra tappers with substantial compensation throughout the tapping season (March through August/September). The ladies of the tappers’ families boil the saps they have gathered and consume the resulting palm jaggery, which is highly sought after in the market.

“The extraction of palm juice has been very low since the tapping season began in mid-March this year,” Anthoniarpuram resident Siluvai Anthony told TNIE. This season’s output has been very low due to a palmyra tree that typically produces six or seven padis, he added, adding that one padi is equivalent to 1.5 litres.

He added that the pathaneer-producing inflorescence seems tiny in size, maybe as a result of the summer’s low rainfall. After ten months, the spikes that were created during the summer of the previous year are now poking their heads out of the crest. Unfortunately, the lack of moisture prevented things from growing properly,” he said.

However, another climber said that since they are unwell, the spikes haven’t come out yet. “For a decent yield, palm climbers often need a nice rainy period. The production of palm jaggeries is negatively impacted by very low pathaneer extraction, he stated.

 

Researchers have shown that during a typical season, a fully developed young female palmyra tree may leak up to 12 liters of pathaneer each day; male palmyra trees emit somewhat less. But according to the Anthoniyarpuram palm juice shandy members, who donate their earnings to an RC diocesan school, they have only been getting 70 liters of palm juice every day, instead than the 200+ litres that they usually receive. “The reduction in palm juice has substantially hindered the revenue generation for the school as well,” said one member.

Yakobu Raj, a Sathankulam palmyra climber who has been trimming the inflorescence for the last month, said, “I can hardly gather two pots of pathaneer a day now, which is less than four liters. The amount of sap has been cut in half since every tree in the area would have produced four pots, or over eight liters, otherwise.”

Speaking with TNIE, Dr. N Richard Kennedy, Chief Scientist of the Horticulture Department of VOC Agriculture College and Research Institute (ACRI) in Killikulam, said that the current heat waves had caused a significant decrease in palmyra sap output during the last ten days. He said that these waves, which vary from temperature increase, are an uncommon occurrence that may allude to climate change.

He noted that the temperature increase could have also had an impact on the yield and that, in the ten days after the start of the heat waves in the area, there had been a significant decrease in the extraction of pathaneer from the observatory trees on the Killikulam site.

Kennedy said that a disease that has yet to be discovered is causing a large-scale leaf loss among palmyra trees. He said, “A survey is underway in this regard, but it’s too early to comment anything,” and he agreed with the farmers that the extraction was impacted by the lack of rainfall.