The Hindu Business Line : Labour shortage haunts rubber sector in Kerala

KERALA, which is struggling these days to pluck coconuts, sow paddy and till its land due to a perceived shortage of labourers, may find it difficult to tap its rubber trees as well.

The rubber sector in Kerala is showing signs of a shortage of skilled workers to tap the rubber trees. The problem is felt more by growers of small holdings than large plantations in the State, which produces over 90 per cent of the country's natural rubber.

"There are only a handful of good tappers around here. It is extremely difficult to get skilled tappers these days," says a farmer with a two-acre holding at Nedumangad, a rubber growing area in Thiruvananthapuram.

Dr A.K. Krishna Kumar, Rubber Production Commissioner of the Rubber Board, says that the shortage of tappers is not a very alarming situation now, and no plantation area is being left untapped because of want of labourers.

"But we do foresee some problems in future. The new generation (in Kerala) is not attracted towards this job," Dr Kumar says.

The youth's aversion to take to traditional jobs in the agriculture, such as coconut tree climbing and rice cultivation and other related manual jobs, is posing a serious problem to the State, which is ironically saddled with nearly four million unemployed people.

"The youngsters in Kerala are not ready to do any manual labour as they are after white collar jobs. This is causing a great deal of problem for the State's agriculture," says an official with the Kerala Institute of Labour & Employment.

Rubber is tapped during the wee hours. A tapper gets 30-40 paise a tree, compared with 20-25 paise during 1995-96. It is estimated that there are over two-lakh rubber tappers for the State's 3.75 lakh hectares of rubber plantation.

Similar to other agricultural sectors, rubber has also started to attract inter-state migrant workers.

Tappers from Tamil Nadu are coming to Kerala to eke out a living, lured by the higher labour charges prevailing in the State.

However, since rubber tapping needs special skills as otherwise the trees will get damaged and yield will suffer, their numbers are also limited.

Dr Kumar said the Rubber Board is taking steps to address the potential issue of shortage of tappers in the future.

It is planning to attract women to rubber tapping since the job is not very arduous.

"Women are ideal for this job. Actually, women are engaged in estates for tapping. We are planning to train more through the women self-help groups," he said.

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