When plantations become tourist hotspots

Perhaps, no State in India has the geophysical diversity of Kerala.

It is a confluence of mountains and midlands, networked by about 44 rivers and the plateau of the coastal belt, embellished with unique backwaters and bordered by the sea on the west.

The tea plantations in the highlands to paddy cultivation in the wetlands even below sea level in Kuttanad bear out the diversity of cropping systems in the State.

However, the land is vulnerable to environmental problems, especially with the interventions in the highlands where plantation crops such as tea and cardamom are cultivated. An estimated 1.4 million households are dependent on Kerala’s plantation sector.

Despite the fluctuating fortunes of the four crops over time, the plight of the plantation sector in Kerala since the late 1990s has attracted wide attention. The growing uncertainties in the market have contributed to the abandonment of prescribed agro-management measures, and have led to labour retrenchment, lockouts and resistance to routine tripartite wage negotiations. These issues have been considered the inevitable outcomes of trade reforms initiated since the early 1990s.

It is perceived that the domestic plantation sector has not been competitive, and is vulnerable to external competition. Meanwhile, there has either been a decline or stagnation in the share of farm gate price in the value chain, with limited survival options for producers.

The two available options for survival are either to restructure the existing arrangements or to identify new sources of income.

The former has serious limitations, and so the attention has been on exploring new avenues. It is in this context that the unique geophysical features of the highlands offer scope for eco-tourism in the tea, cardamom and coffee growing regions.

. There are someinbuilt advantages: (i) the plantation land as well as the unique ecosystem, which are the fixed assets-cum-commodities for sale, are inexhaustible at least in the short-run; (ii) additional investment in the renovation of fixed assets and operational expenses is negligible except for extra facilities to be provided for accommodation; (iii) sustained support by the government for the popularisation and promotion of tourism; and (iv) higher returns for land compared to all the farming options.

The informal efforts by the planting community have gained legitimacy with the cabinet decision of the Kerala government to allow 5 per cent of the plantation land to be utilised for tourism and for growing medicinal plants, floriculture and vanilla. Despite the exciting opportunities, the new survival strategy raises certain issues from a long-term perspective.

First, all the plantation crops had been exempted from land ceiling legislations enacted in the State primarily under the presumption of the existence of scale economies in plantation agriculture.

Second, the new survival strategy is a bail-out mechanism for the benefit of those who own land and does not address any of the deep-rooted issues.

Third, the possibility of tourism leading to a gradual abandonment of plantations looms large in the absence of a regular monitoring mechanism. Fourth, the potential risks associated with the present interventions will expose the limits to the carrying capacity of the prevailing ecosystem.

Moreover, due to the contiguous nature of land in the State, the environmental impact of the new interventions in the highlands will have a cascading effect on the midlands and low-lying areas.

The apprehensions on the potential consequences of the tourism industry in the plantation sector are: (i) given the emerging trends in Kerala’s land market, plantation land will be ultimately taken over by real estate dealers who are keen to appropriate maximum returns in the shortest possible time defying socio-economic and environmental issues; and (ii) issues related to waste generation and disposal in the long-run.

The lingering issues pose serious questions about the survival of plantations and their stakeholders, not to mention the environment itself.

The writer is the joint director of the Rubber Research Institute of India. The views are personal

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