Acute labour shortage grips plantations

The plantation sector across south India is reeling under acute labour shortage due to migration of workers to lucrative jobs in recent years. Coffee and tea planters claim that a whopping 56 per cent of the labour force left the sector during the last decade in search of greener pastures.

A study by the Tea Research Foundation (TRF) and the United Planters’ Association of Southern India (Upasi) found thousands of plantation labourers have been opting to work under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) scheme due to higher wages.

Of the 2.35 million labourers in plantations across the country, 1.35 million (57.3 per cent) are engaged in south India.

“The labour strength in tea plantation has reduced varying from 21.4 per cent in Nilgiris and 30 per cent in Annamalais in Tamil Nadu to 56.2 per cent in central Travancore in Kerala from what it was over a decade ago,” the study found.

Similarly, around 1.27 million growers – most of them small and tiny – cultivate the plantation crops (coffee, tea, rubber and spices) in south India spread across 1.11 million hectares of area, providing permanent employment to 1.35 million labourers.

“Though most of these workers stay in plantation areas, they do not turn up for work. Instead, they take up work at government projects under the MGNREGA scheme. Hence, we have sought mechanisation of operations and incentivise the same with the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Commerce earlier this year,” R Sanjith, spokesperson, Upasi told Business Standard.

The plantation sector plays an integral role in the economy of three southern states. Kerala (rubber, coffee, spices), Tamil Nadu (tea) and Karnataka (coffee) together account for almost one-fourth of the total tea output and nearly the entire production of coffee, natural rubber and spices in the country. South India accounts for 64.2 per cent of the total area under plantation in the country.

In an effort to get rid of the issue of labour shortage, planters under the leadership of Upasi have represented to the ministry of commerce to sanction a Rs 300-crore scheme for mechanisation. They have also urged the government to extend the scheme to all kinds of growers, be it small, medium, large or corporate houses.