Most Indian farmers complain about labour shortage these days. The case is no different in Hawaii.

In a recent chat with BusinessLine , Ken Love, a Hawaiian fruit grower and Executive Director of Hawaii Tropical Fruit Growers, said that he got feedback about labour shortage during his visit to India, and some farmers informed him that they pay $4-6 a day for labour.

In Hawaii, the wage rate is around $15 an hour. “Even at what we have to pay we cannot get help,” he said.

According to him, the diversity of crops can help tackle this problem.

Stating that every month there is another crop or two to harvest for him, he said a half-acre gets picked very quickly.

Giving the example of different varieties of avocados, he said instead of harvesting Sharwil avocados in January, now there are a few trees of Kahaluu avocados to harvest in October, Malama avocados in November, and Linda avocados in March.

There is always something to harvest; something to sell to the wholesaler the grocery store or to some chefs who use fruits as ingredients, he said.

“We are better off when we can sell a little of many different crops at different times instead of a lot of one or two items at one time of year when everyone else has the same crop,” Love said.

In the long run, the grower makes more money with less work and lesser stress. However, he advised that the grower may have to build markets for some of the unusual fruits. “But once you do, you will be far ahead of those who don’t,” he added.

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