This is the part of the year when a heady aroma of harvested clove buds fills the air as one travels through hairpin bends higher from Thenmala to reach the Ambanad hills in Kollam district.
It is also the time when more than 400 migrant labourers from Tamil Nadu with their families reach Ambanad for harvesting cloves.
The labourers stay in the plantation for over a month to complete the harvest process and go back with earnings. The pay tempts them to return the same time next year for the clove harvest job.
At the Ambanad estate, more than 20,000 clove trees have to be harvested within a span of one month. Each tree will be more than 10 meters tall, bearing the buds to be harvested from top to bottom. Every tree will bear about 10 to 15 kg of raw buds this season. The labourers, including women, climb the trees to harvest the buds. After harvesting the bud stalks, the labourers will have to segregate the buds from the stalks. They gather at an open space after each day’s harvest for the job that could extend well beyond midnight. The labour charges are separate for harvesting and segregating. The segregated buds are then sun dried.
Last year, the harvest was poor, but this year’s crop is good and more than 60,000 kg of dried cloves are expected from Ambanad.
