Micro enterprises, farm labourers picking up the pieces in rain-hit Kodagu

The 14-km stretch of road between Jodupala and Madikeri once provided livelihood opportunities to many, including micro enterprises, farm labourers and farmers with small holdings. This ghat stretch on Madikeri-Mangaluru highway witnessed major landslides at different locations on August 17, throwing their life out of gear.

Rajanna Gowda, a tea seller near Kartojikolli stream at Madenadu in Kodagu district, is one of the victims. He had set up a teashop near the highway after taking a loan of ₹80,000 from his self-help group (SHG) a year and a half ago. Being located near the highway overlooking a stream, his venture had taken off well.

He also possessed a small house near the teashop and had an acre of coffee plantation. The events of August 17 upended his comfortable life.

Tragedy strikes

Recalling the ordeal, Rajanna told BusinessLine that he and others in the village heard the sound of trees falling and water gushing towards the highway early morning on August 17. Amid heavy rain and squally wind, a large chunk of the hill slipped off and fell on the road around 11 am.

The landslide turned the highway into a muddy river with the water reaching up to his tea stall. The villagers thought it prudent to take refuge in a school building at the nearby Belakumani village.

When the BusinessLine reporter visited Madenadu on Thursday, Rajanna said he had come back from the relief camp a week ago to reopen his tea stall.

Being located near the stream, his stall was frequented by the travelling public before the landslide. Farm labourers were also his customers. Both segments of customers are absent now.

“My daily turnover was around ₹4,000 earlier. Now I am struggling to make even ₹500 a day,” he said. Whatever business he gets now is from the labourers involved in the road restoration work.

Rajanna said that around 100 families in his locality had landholdings ranging from one acre to four acres. Hardly 20 families have come back now. The rest have either migrated to other places or shifted to their relatives’ houses. Some have remained back in the relief camps in Madikeri town, he said.

Crop loss

Coffee is the main crop for these villagers. Rajanna said he was harvesting around 10 bags of coffee a year. “This year I won’t even get half-a-bag,” he said, adding that the coffee plants have wilted, and now they look dried up. (He said one bag is around 50 kg).

Savinya, who lives with her husband Suresh Gowda and two children in the area, said she was working as a farm labourer earlier. Post-landslides, even the owners of those coffee plantations above five acres in the region are not in a position to carry out their operations. This has dried up the option of earning a livelihood for her also.

Though Savinya’s family cultivates coffee on 1.5 acres of land, she is not hopeful of getting more than one bag of coffee this season.

Houses damaged

Many houses, including those of Rajanna and Savinya, have developed cracks, but they cannot afford to repair them.

Without giving up hopes in the future, Rajanna said he has already paid back ₹60,000 of the loan to his SHG. “I will repay the remaining amount in the days to come,” he said with a glint in his eyes.

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