Labour shortage spoiling coffee party in Karnataka

An acute labour shortage is hurting coffee production in Karnataka, which accounts for 70 per cent of the country’s coffee output.

And growers say the situation could worsen further in coming years as the new generation of plantation workers, lured by city life, is migrating to urban areas.

“It’s quite a serious problem...That people are just not coming to growing areas. It’s getting worse. This year it is acute,” said Ramesh Rajah, President of Coffee Exporters Association of India.

If the labour crunch continues, the growers said, the country’s coffee industry would be hurt hard. India is one of the major producers of the commodity in the world with an annual output of about 300,000 tonnes. It exports two-thirds of the production. The government-notified minimum wage per day to plantation workers is Rs 103 per day, but the growers say they end up paying up to Rs 160, including statutory benefits such as provident fund and bonus.

“Even at this level, there is no labour availability,” said Chairman of the Karnataka Planters’ Association Ajoy Thipaiah. Thipaiah said the mindset of labourers today — unlike the older generation — has changed and they are more inclined to stay in towns and cities rather than in plantations. Coffee is grown mainly in the hilly Kodagu, Chikamagalur and Hassan districts of the state.

According to Bose Mandanna, a coffee grower in Karnataka, labour input constituted 65 per cent of the cost of cultivation of coffee, especially for arabicas. “So, labour is a very vital part of coffee production process,” added Mandanna, a former Vice-Chairman of state-run Coffee Board of India and now a member of the Karnataka State Labour Advisory Board which fixes wages for industries.

He said now only the aged labourers were left in plantations while the younger ones have moved to cities. “It’s definitely going to worsen in the coming years with the old generation retiring”.

Thipaiah said rapid urbanisation and improvement in the socio-economic conditions have lured skilled and unskilled labourers to urban areas, hitting plantation industry hard.

“This has affected agricultural, cultural operations and harvesting of plantation crops, consequent to which our yield and returns have diminished,” he said. “This matter is of great concern to us.”

He said the labour shortage was 50 per cent or more, especially migrant labour during harvest season from late October to February.

“We need a lot of people for picking (seeds) during harvest season but we don’t seem to be getting people even by paying good wage and other benefits. People are not willing to come to growing areas. It’s difficult for farmers to harvest their produce.”