| Coconut climbers in short supply in Kerala | |
| Press Trust Of India / Kochi July 05, 2009, 0:06 IST | |
Plagued by declining number of coconut palm climbers, the Coconut Development Board is trying to woo youth by offering them insurance schemes besides training unemployed men in the profession.
Coconut growing states of Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra and Goa are facing a shortage of climbers, a vital link in the production chain, with very few people taking on the traditional profession.
Some desperate farmers from Goa recently called up the board seeking its intervention in finding out climbers. A private company having coconut farms recently advertised for climbers, but failed to get the desired response from potential climbers. Though there were no interested parties from Kerala, they reportedly got two inquiries from the Gulf for the job.
“Though the board is training unemployed youth in palm climbing, there is a reluctance to enter this field because of the occupational risk and the arduous labour involved in climbing tall coconut trees,” Coconut Development Board (CDB) Chairman Minnie Mathew said.
To woo potential climbers, the CDB along with the United India Insurance Company Ltd Launched a pilot scheme ‘Kerala Suraksha Insurance scheme’ last month for providing accident insurance cover for coconut tree climbers in few selected districts in Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Puducherry.
Board sources said initially the insurance coverage will be for a year and would be given not only for accidents which occur during climbing, but also for other accidents which occur during the cover period.
The scheme covers death, permanent total disablement, permanent partial disablement, hospitalisation expenses, bystanders expenses, ambulance charges and funeral expenses, if any, in case of death due to accidents, sources said.
In case of accidents resulting in temporary disability, a weekly compensation of Rs 500 will be given to the climber for a maximum period of six weeks. The bystander is also eligible for an amount of Rs 50 a day for 15 days.
The insured climber would get a maximum benefit of Rs 1,16,750 under the scheme. With shortage of climbers in many areas, farmers are forced to seek help from migrant labourers, who charge exorbitant amounts, despite not being familiar with the art.
“The scarcity of labour disrupts harvesting cycles thus causing loss of income to the growers. As against the general norm of harvesting cycles of 45-60 days, farmers are currently able to harvest only once in three to four months,” Mathew said.
As per the board’s figures (2006-07), Kerala has about 870.9 thousand hectares of land under coconut cultivation and accounts for about 6,054 million nuts on a yearly basis.
Karnataka has 401 thousand hectares and produces 1,625 million nuts annually, while Tamil Nadu has 374 thousand hectares and accounts for 5,429 million nuts. Goa has 25.5 hectares and accounts for 126 million nuts.
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