By Jeevan Mathew Kurian, IANS
Kozhikode : Unlike in the agrarian sector, debt has never brought death to the hutments of Kerala’s coastal belt. Over the years, fishermen have evolved a system of loans and repayment that has insulated them from crises.
The government plans to introduce a law in line with the Farmers’ Debt Relief Commission Act 2006 to help fishermen repay their loans. But an NGO that works with the fishing community says regardless of such help, fishermen have learnt to keep their problems away despite all odds.
“Here fishermen take loans from fish vendors and traders that involve no written agreement. All deals are based on mutual trust,” said Baby John, director of the NGO Malabar Coastal Institute for Training, Research and Action (MCITRA).
For centuries, fishermen and traders have shared this special bond that is mutually beneficial.
“As part of this system, the fishermen give their day’s catch to the fish traders who then sell the fish and take a three percent commission,” he said.
“It takes no time for fishermen to mobilise even a substantial amount as loan and they need no collateral for this. There is no interest or repayment period. A fisherman’s lifetime is the period of repayment,” said John.
The repayments are usually done by deducting the loan amount from the sale of the catch. “There were instances where creditors even waived the entire amount after seeing the fishermen’s plight,” he added.
It was the entry of institutional lending that created problems in the coastal areas.
“Globalisation brought in institutional lenders. The entry of trawlers brought about a change in the fishermen’s work culture,” said K.P. Narayanankutty, assistant project manager with MCITRA.
“Those who thought they could lose out to trawlers started using big boats with engines. These boats needed huge investment and brought institutional lenders to the coastal areas.
Such investments are usually made by 20-30 people jointly. “The big boats do not always give a big catch. So much so the proceeds become insufficient to meet the huge repayments. Gradually they will get sucked into a debt trap,” he said.
Though the loan culture is deep rooted among the fishermen community, institutional lenders have only a minor say in the scheme of things.
Said John: “But the fishermen here are tough and deeply religious. They have a positive attitude and don’t brood about the future. This may also have helped them in facing crises and warding off incidents like suicides.”
However, their agrarian counterparts have not been lucky. In the past, many farmers in Kerala’s Wayanad district have committed suicide for not being able to repay loans.