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Picking Up The Pieces
BY NEELAM MATHEWS IN INDIA*, AND ANDREW WOOD IN SINGAPORE
The tidal wave in December devastated communities. It destroyed businesses and employment for hundreds of thousands of people. The food industry was no exception.
1 February 2005
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The tidal wave hit food producers hard. Fishing boats in harbour were smashed. Fleets devastated. Twelve countries were affected. Waves up to 15m high swept inland all around the Indian Ocean rim.
They wiped out fish farms, uprooted fruit trees and washed away fields of crops. The effect of the waves was sometimes felt a long way from the coast. River valleys channelled the waves inland, scouring away buildings, trees, roads, bridges, crops and even topsoil. Lowlying fields were erased, or left flooded.
The United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) catalogued widespread damage in its preliminary report on the tsunami’s effects. The Indonesian island of Sumatra was closest to the epicentre of the quake that triggered the tidal waves. The FAO says its two provinces—Aceh and Northern Sumatra—usually account for ten per cent of the country’s rice production, with the main harvest in March. This year’s paddy and maize crops were on the ground when the tsunami struc
‘Fishermen have been forced to sell fish as chickenfeed to poultry farmers at throwaway prices.’ K S M DARMALINGAM
On the other side of the Indian Ocean in Sri Lanka, planting for the main 2005 crop had just finished when tidal waves hit eastern and southern coastal districts.
The FAO says that in eastern parts, persistent heavy rains from mid-December and floods had also affected prospects for this year’s harvest. The FAO said the country’s already tight food supply could worsen further in this year and the next.
Thailand is the world’s largest rice exporter—and the harvest was underway at the time of the tidal wave. But the FAO says the areas affected accounted for just four per cent of annual rice production. India escaped the worst as well, the FAO says. Some 90 percent of the country’s annual paddy crop is grown from May to November. Aquaculture was affected across the region. The FAO’s preliminary assessment noted extensive damage to shrimp hatcheries and prawn farming.
In Sri Lanka, the National Aquatic Resources Research and Development Agency was seriously damaged. Loss to the industry is estimated at US$4 million. The industry is believed to have slipped back to 1950s level.
Reports suggest more than 1000 aquaculture farms were destroyed in Thailand alone. The Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra has called on the European Union to restore trade privileges for Thai prawn imports to help the industry recover.
In India, fishermen off the Mahabalipuram coast in Tamil Nadu say the tsunami has changed coastal geography. Fish usually found in shallow waters are no longer there.
No one is sure how long they will take to return. Indonesia’s Ministry of Fisheries and Marine Affairs says total loss caused by tsunami in Aceh and North Sumatra provinces is estimated around US$462 million. Around 40,000 fishermen lost their homes. Rehabilitation may cost more than US$110 million.
On the west coast of Malaysia, around 7,000 hectares of mudflats are believed to have been damaged. They are used for extensive culture of blood cockles, Anadara granosa. Production in 2001 was 71,000 tons. And as if the tsunami’s devastation wasn’t bad enough, sales have plummeted thanks to rumours that suggested seafood had been contaminated because fish had eaten human bodies. One email prank named the ‘Zulican’ virus as the culprit.
As a result, sales of seafood in Andhra Pradesh in southern India slumped from 200 tons a day down to just 100 kgs daily—creating losses of US$12 million in just ten days. The state has 1,000 km of coastline and accounts for up to 30 per cent of India’s seafood exports.
‘Fishermen have been forced to sell fish as chickenfeed to poultry farmers at throwaway prices,’ says Fish, Prawn and Perishables Association spokesperson K S M Darmalingam.
More than 100,000 people are associated with the seafood industry including 25,000 retail traders in south India alone.
The Central Institute of Fisheries Technology (CIFT) in Kochi quickly tried to quash the rumours. Its director, K Devadasan, declared seafood was safe for consumption.‘This is a lie spread by motivated cruel minds,’ Mr Devadasan said. ‘CIFT scientists have checked with all available sources, including the United States Food and Drug Administration and the Centres for Disease Control in Atlanta.
There is no virus called Zulican. ‘It is unfortunate that even in this period of crisis, there are people who want to further miseries of the coastal poor,’ he said.
*NEELAM MATHEWS IS ASIA FOOD JOURNAL’S NEW CORRESPONDENT IN INDIA
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