Anshu Gupta

Destroyed nutmeg spice after the Kerala floods 2018

Lives and livelihood of over a million people suffered, infrastructure and economic damages added to the severity of loss. The worst affected was paddy cultivation, which suffered loss on 25,934 hectares. Tapioca came second at 10,189 hectares. With rice and tapioca being major staple foods in Kerala, the loss of both crops impacted the state's food sufficiency*.

During the kerala floods all the crop inside the huge granaries got completely destroyed. While going around the godown area with my team, I came across people who were spreading the destroyed nutmeg on the floor in an attempt to dry it out. I went and asked why they were trying to dry out damaged crop. He replied, ‘Sir you are right that this is destroyed and we can’t sell it to retailers in this condition. But the hotels will buy these in bulk as it is very cheap.’ That was his perspective but I went back to the team that day and laughed and told them that better be careful of what you are eating at the hotels!

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