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G.K. Nair

Kochi , April 27

TEA production in Kerala continued to decline following closure of many estates and neglect of the existing plantations.

Ever since the drop in tea prices the production in Kerala, which had been around 68 m.kg till 2000, started declining from the next year to reach 49.7 m.kg in 2004.

The growing disparity between the cost of production, which remained at higher levels, and the price realisation said to have driven many plantations in the corporate segment to either close down the estates or to reduce the inputs. This has resulted in a sharp fall in production in the major estates in Kerala's Idukki and Wayanad districts. Meanwhile, medium and small growers had also neglected their tea plantations. Even they have left it without plucking the green leaves, industry sources told Business Line.

The price received by the growers used to be much less than the labour cost needed for plucking, some of the growers in Idukki said. Many have given up the tea plants, they said.

The average cost of production in the corporate sector varied from Rs 60 to Rs 65 a kg while the auction prices remained much below that level, industry sources said.

Kerala had 36,821 ha under tea employing 84,000 labourers in 1999. In addition, there were 10,000 small growers.

In fact, many of the regular workers in the tea estates had to go out for other jobs for survival. The labour intensive plantations were providing round the year employment mostly in rural and backward areas of the State.

No alternative employment opportunity is also available in the locationsof the plantations, a trade union leader pointed out.

Some of the tea companies had even handed over the plantations to the workers to look after and take the yield.

A major corporate planter had floated a new company involving the workforce as partners for running the plantations.

Thus, restructuring of the plantation sector is also slowly taking shape of late in an effort to hand over the production of tea to the workers' cooperatives, he said.

However, the success of all these measures would mainly depend on the prices at the auctions, he pointed out.

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