Commodity planters wait for schemes to spur growth

Planters of coffee, tea, rubber and spices in south India are waiting for the new government to implement development schemes that will boost production and spur growth in the vital economic sector.

"Planters are looking forward to an early announcement of development schemes, which will secure state funds and incentives for their implementation," an official of the plantation sector's representative organisation told IANS here Sunday.

Though the schemes were to become effective in the first fiscal (2012-13) of the 12th Five Year Plan (2012-17), policy paralysis and inaction of the previous Congress-led government put paid to the efforts of the plantation sector in achieving the growth targets, he said.

"The schemes include re-plantation, quality upgradation, value addition, skill development and mechanisation for higher yields, better returns and variety to boost exports," United Planters' Association of South India (UPASI) commodities head R. Sanjith said ahead of the group's 121st annual conference here, 520 km from Chennai.

The state-run commodity boards will announce the schemes after the expenditure commission of the union finance ministry approves the funds and incentives to be given to the planters, mainly located in Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu.

The plantation sector plays an integral role in the economy of the three southern states, with Karnataka accounting for coffee, Kerala for coffee, rubber and spices and Tamil Nadu for tea.

Of the 17 lakh planters and 24 lakh workers involved in the plantation sector in India, 76 percent (13 lakh) of growers and 57 percent (14 lakh) of labourers are spread across the three southern states.

"Plantation commodities generated Rs.43,871 crore in the 2013-14 fiscal, contributing 2.5 percent to the national agricultural gross domestic product (GDP) while exports earned the planters and other stakeholders Rs.10,181 crore, accounting for seven percent of the total agricultural and allied goods' exports," Sanjith said.

Plantation crops are grown in south India in an area of 18 lakh hectares, which is 65 percent of the total area and around two percent of the total cropped area in India.

Of the total value (Rs.43,871 crore) realised last fiscal (FY 2014), south India accounted for Rs.27,957 crore, with natural rubber contributing Rs.13,306 crore, followed by coffee Rs.8,874 crore, spices Rs.2.951 crore and tea Rs.2,826 crore. The spices include pepper Rs.1,980 crore and cardamom worth Rs.971 crore.

"In terms of value, south India accounts for cent percent of spices, 97 percent of coffee, 94.4 percent of rubber and 16 percent of tea," Sanjith said.

In terms of production too, south India accounts for 100 percent (59,795 tonnes) in spices, 97.4 percent (296,550 tonnes) in coffee, 94.4 percent (796,500 tonnes) in rubber and 20 percent (243,710 tonnes) in tea.

As the sector's premier apex body, the 120-year-old UPASI represents planters, small growers, buyers, sellers, processors, exporters and market intermediaries.