Kerala - Kattappana   

Labour shortage affects pepper, coffee harvests

KATTAPPANA: The harvest season for pepper and coffee beans is just a few days but there is severe shortage of workers in the Idukki district. The availability of seasonal labourers from Tamil Nadu and neighbouring districts is almost absent this season.

Pepper and coffee are mostly cultivated by small scale farmers and planters in the district and the non-availability of workers coupled with a fall in the prices of pepper will have an impact on other areas of economic activities. The yearly harvesting season is considered to be a period high level of economic activity in the district where industries or other sources of income are quite absent. It is a time for investment, and the amount of investment is dependant on the prices of the produce.

The shortage of workers is the result of large -scale migration of farm labourers to other areas including construction sector in the neighbouring districts where they get better wages.

Since a crisis hit the tea sector, the district has been witnessing shortage of labourers due to migration of workers. The gravity of the crisis increased with workers from Tamil Nadu finding the high cost of living in the State unaffordable coupled with low remuneration for farm workers in comparison with other work-related sectors.

According to P. Shivasankar, a pepper planter at Nedumkandam, with the price of pepper remaining low, a farmer cannot hire a worker who is being paid Rs.125 and above for harvesting coffee beans. The labour charge for harvesting pepper is even more.

The present price of a kilogram of pepper is around Rs.105, which has steadily fallen from Rs.140 recently. The price of a kilogram of coffee beans here is Rs.82, which marketing sources say is remunerative. But farmers say there has been a dip in the total production of coffee and pepper. The total production of pepper may not exceed one-third of last year.

Earlier, the workers were available in abundance during the harvesting season. But with each years passing, the availability of workers have fallen. The poor prices of produce make it unaffordable for farmers to engage them, said Shivasankar.

The severe shortage of male labourers will hit harvesting of pepper as it is considered a monopoly of male labourers who use ladders to pluck the matured pepper.

Mathew George, a farmer who has both the pepper and coffee cultivation in his 12 acres land at Puliyanmala, said that the clearing of weeds on the plantation areas is not over. He has contacted some self-help groups to get their services. During the last season, pepper harvesting was severely hit by untimely rain and shortage of workers in the high ranges of the district.

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