The recently constituted Kerala Plantation Directorate will commission a vision document for plantations in the State for drawing up plans to make the sector profitable, job-generating and environmentally sustainable. The vision document will look at a span of around 25 years during which period, the glory of the sector is expected to be brought back.
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The document is expected to cover the entire range of ideas from diversification of plantations to labour welfare, introduction of profitable tourism ventures and leveraging carbon credits from the sector, sources in the directorate said.
The document will be the first overarching framework being prepared after the directorate was constituted through an order of the government in October 2021.
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The government order on the formation of the directorate had clearly listed the tasks before the Department of Industries and Commerce. The new entity was formed after the plantation sector was declared as an industry in principle.
The key tasks before the directorate is to draw up plans to generate more employment and to make operations profitable. Interventions to ensure fair price for plantation crops and ensuring insurance cover for crops are the other tasks of the directorate.
The key plantation crops in the State include tea, coffee, rubber, and cocoa. The total area of plantation crops during 2019-20 had been placed at more than 6.87 lakh hectares compared to 6.86 lakh hectares in the previous year. Kottayam has the largest extent of plantations and contributes 16.77% of the total plantation area in the State.
Natural rubber was planted in 5.51 hectares in 2019-20. Kottayam accounts for 20.74% of the plantations, while Ernakulam (1091%) and Pathanamthitta (9.23%) are the other areas of rubber cultivation. Tea was cultivated in 35,871 hectares during 2019-20, coffee in more than 85,000 hectares, and cocoa in 14,276 hectares.