Expert coconut climbers only a call away for DK farmers

Mangaluru: In an attempt to address the labour crisis in agriculture, Pingara, a farmer producer organisation (FPO), on Monday launched a dedicated team of four coconut tree climbers.
Ramakishore K, president of Pingara FPO told The Times of India that 1,000 farmers are members of this FPO. About a year ago, they started a team with ‘doti’ or telescopic poles for spraying and harvesting the arecanut. “We are working with 10 dotis and 22 persons are engaged in the job. Within a span of nine months the turnover was around Rs 30 lakh.
``The farmers who contacted the Pingara team to harvest areca were finding it difficult to get labourers to harvest coconut. This is because generally the same labourers are engaged in harvesting both coconut and areca. Incidentally, we also came across a cover story about ‘Hello Nariyal’, a coconut climbing team from Thiruvananthapuram in ‘Adike Patrike’ magazine. When the plan to utilise the services of the ‘doti’ team for coconut tree climbing did not materialise, we decided to form a team with four coconut climbers from Jharkhand. With inspiration from Hello Nariyal and the encouragement and support of farmers, the team was launched," he said.
The four coconut tree climbers will be accompanied by a driver/manager who will arrive in a minivan. It is the job of the manager to handle telephone calls and inform farmers who have booked services about the team’s arrival in advance. “We have already received 10 orders and for the time being, we will operate in a radius of about 15 kilometres in Vittal. The team charges Rs 50 per tree and climbs manually using a cable device. The farmers must also understand that if the yield has to increase then the farmers must harvest coconuts at least thrice a year, “ he said.
Shree Padre, the editor of the agricultural magazine Adike Patrike, who has been stressing job work in agriculture, said: “For all other purposes, the farmer is a producer, but unfortunately when it comes to harvesting coconuts, the process which should have been sweet and pleasurable has become tougher for the farmer due to the labour crisis. The farmer has to harvest when the harvester is available. Hence, this concept makes harvesting sustainable, economical and at the farmer’s convenience, adding a professional touch to the job. As a step forward, Pingara must work on introducing services on a digital platform,” he said.