Financial crisis hits fruit processing plant

Vazhakkulam company struggling to cope up with two consecutive years of floods

The Vazhakkulam Agro and Fruit Processing Company, owned jointly by the State government, Vegetable and Fruit Promotion Council Keralam and farmers, is struggling to cope up with two consecutive years of floods and high waters. The Vazhakkulam plant has mostly recovered from the mid-August 2018 floods but is in the midst of a financial crisis.

No salary

Trade union sources said that employees had not been paid their salaries in the past nine months and that there was a serious erosion of confidence among them.

The number of employees had come down to less than a hundred over the years from the level of about 150, sources said.

MD hopeful

However, Shibu Kumar, Managing Director, said processing was being streamlined and that the rainy season was a lean one for processed fruit.

The plant had substantial capacity and processed about 6,000 packets per hour.

It was not possible to utilise the full capacity as the products did not have a shelf life beyond six months.

He said the production now mostly consisted of mango and mango-pineapple mix and that processing was expected to substantially increase over the next months.

Employees’ leaders like Jomy Manuel has expressed apprehensions about statutory payments and the serious financial trouble the fruit processing company was in. He said PF and ESI payments were still pending and that the company’s financial struggle would continue unless the government intervened immediately.

Loss in production

The agro-processing company, makers of the popular JIVE brand of fruit mix drinks, had sustained serious financial losses during the 2018 floods.

The company’s generators and electrical rooms were flooded.

The damage during the floods had resulted in loss in production over a year even as the company management was trying to repair the machinery and equipment.