BANGALORE: The members of Karnataka Planters Association (KPA) have a fight on their hands, adding to their ongoing struggle with shortage of fertilizers and pest problems.Chairman of the KPA Sahadev Balakrishna said that the industry was facing ‘acute’ labour shortage, despite better pay and living conditions in the plantation and estates. “The labourers are increasingly moving to urban areas”, he said and shared that the same labourer could earn `175 plus social benefits when compared to urban areas where the average pay was around `130 per day.The forum had proposed some changes to the government of India to implement it in the 12th five year plan, that would take effect from April 1 2012, he added. The KPA also highlighted that the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) was not helping. The forum opined that the scheme should be amended as there was enough rural employment in plantation and this scheme was driving people away from working in plantations. The KPA also sought the exemption of VAT on agricultural fertilisers on the lines of Kerala and Tamil Nadu as the burden of taxes was taking a toll on the industry. “Non-availability of fertiliser is another major problem we face”, the forum chief said and shared that during the month of August there is a grave shortage of Potash. But the effects to these challenges could ‘snowball’ into a larger problem of decreased production of the Arabica crop. “India is facing one of the lowest Arabica crop in the last decade”, he said. Attributing this to the White Stem Borer, he stated that more efforts should be pursued in Research and Development to solve this problem. Stating that this trend was dangerous for the survival of the industry, he said that assistance must be provided for re-plantation of crops to ensure a healthier crop. The Forum also sought the waiver of `160 crore of accumulated interest and rescheduling of loans to at least partially relieve them of their burden. Stating that their pepper exports had remained stagnant, the planters shared that exports is only around `383 crore and over `100 crore as assistance only in terms of pepper for re-plantation to increase output.
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