Rubber plantation workers reel under monsoon fallout

The most affected pockets are Kalkulam, Vilavancode and Thovalai, where the workers solely rely on the key plantation crop in the district. The fallout of the rain has left many jobless.

Speaking about his woes, a plantation worker from Mylar P Natarajan said that he went to work for only about 10-14 days in July this year and worked for only four days in August due to the rain. Stating that the rain day allowance given to the tapping worker has increased by only Rs 20 in the past three years, from Rs 80 to Rs 100, Natarajan said that as price of essential commodities has increased at frequent intervals, such allowance was not sufficient to run the family.

On the rainy days, sources said that the workers are insisted to engage tapping with the support of rain guard. As for C Balachandran Nair, secretary, Kanyakumari District Rubber Farmers Association, not all rubber plantation sites were equipped with rain guard cover in rubber trees. “Those with small holdings could not afford to equip with such facility,” he said, adding that it incurs an expenditure of Rs 30 for a rubber tree to be equipped with a proper rain guard system for uninterrupted tapping of trees during the rainy season.

The general secretary of Kanyakumari Estate Workers Union M Valsa Kumar while speaking to DT Next opined that the State government should consider the legitimate concerns of the field labourers and extend the rain day allowance for all those working in the rubber plantation sites, just like the rubber tapping workers who are privileged to benefit from such allowance during rain hit days. “While fishermen are provided with lean period and ban period assistance annually, the government should also consider those who engage in weeding and manure application and allot such allowances when their livelihoods do not support them,” he added.

Meanwhile on the rubber production business in the district with around 19,000 hectares, Balachandran said that from the district recording an annual average production of about 25,000-30,000 tonnes, production dropped to 26,000 tonnes last year. He also said that the production is also likely to suffer a decline by ten per cent this year. “However, many rubber growers were reluctant to go ahead as market is not enterprising. Of late, some rubber plantations had been converted into paddy fields and dates cultivation,” he said. Among the total rubber production in India, Kanyakumari constitutes eight per cent, Balachandran said.