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C.J. Punnathara

Munnar, Nov. 3 The lure of greener pastures has put the Indian plantation industry in a tight spot.

The industry is set to face a major labour crisis as estate workers’ children are looking at jobs that do not put them in the worker category.

Mr T.V. Alexander, President of UPASI, said: “There is an acute shortage of workers in tea plantations of Anamalais as well as in the Karnataka coffee plantations during the peak plucking season. With the passage of time, the labour situation is likely to deteriorate and become persistent among plantations all over India.”

The reason for the shortage can be understood from the life of Ms A. Chandra, who had ascended to the Board of Kanan Devan Hills Plantation Company (KDHPC) – one of the largest participatory management companies in the world – as its first woman and worker director.

“My elder son has completed his graduation and is presently employed as an assistant field officer with the company and my second son, who is completing his engineering, has no plans of joining the ranks of the plantation workers,” says Ms Chandra.

The sons and daughters of several of Ms Chandra’s co-workers have similar plans – of not signing up as plantation workers.

Does the shortage bode bad tidings for the industry, especially as it comes on the heels of India signing the Free Trade Agreement with ASEAN countries?

“Not necessarily,” says Mr Johnson Varghese, a young small tea planter from Munnar.

“Mechanisation is taking root in the hills of Munnar as several small growers are shifting to manual and mechanised tea leaf shearers. We are eagerly awaiting the arrival of around 200 China-made mechanised shearers, which have landed at Kochi port.”

The mechanised shearers are expected to increase the productivity of a worker six-fold, said Mr C.K. Mohan, Manager-Bought Tea Operations of KDHPC.

The mechanised shearers, which are in vogue in some South-East Asian countries, have increased productivity to 600 kg a worker a day as against the 80-100 kg a day for a good worker in the South Indian tea plantations.

Such an increase in productive could imply large lay-offs. But the labour shortage looming large over several plantations may annul any lay-off plans.

“When KDHPC was transformed into a participatory management company in 2005-06, almost 50 per cent of the 22,000 workers opted for voluntary retirement. By virtually doubling labour productivity from 33 kg to 55 kg per worker, we were not only able to maintain our total production, but increase on it as well,” Mr Alexander, who is also the Managing Director, KDHPC said.

Most tea companies did not see an immediate need for mechanisation as they have the legacy of a large workforce and increasing productivity. While there is still tremendous scope for growth in productivity, Mr Alexander said, in several instances mechanisation may not be suitable in the largely undulating terrain of big plantations as it would be small holdings.

More Stories on : Plantations | Human Resources

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