Missing topsoil: Cost of a wedding in Tamil Nadu

In Sembedu village of Tamil Nadu’s Thiruvallur district, a wedding in the family can cost a farmer their land and livelihood. A family typically spends INR 3–5 lakh on a wedding. If they can’t afford this, farmers end up selling their land’s topsoil to the local brick kilns.

Selling the topsoil is preferred over selling the entire plot of land, because usually it is the family’s only asset. Three feet of the soil fetches INR 3 lakh—this solves the problem at hand, but also creates another.

The top layer of the soil contains most of the nutrients. Its removal makes the land infertile and unsuitable for farming; it can take thousands of years for three feet of soil to replenish itself. To create an alternative source of income, the farmers convert the land into a fishpond, thereby switching their livelihood from farming to fishing. There are 25–30 fishponds in the village already.

But what happens if there is another wedding in the family? This time, the farmer is left with no option other than to sell the land. Due to Sembedu’s proximity to the Chennai border, the land is in high demand. People just come in, fill the ponds with mud, and construct houses on the land.

Archana P Stalin is the founder of myHarvest Farms, a digital marketplace for organic food.

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Know more: Learn how the Bhil community’s notra tradition turned into a gift that stopped giving.

Do more: Connect with the author at archana@myharvestfarms.com to learn more about and support her work.