Labour shortage affects coffee estate operations in Karnataka

CHIKKAMAGALURU: Coffee planters in three major coffee-growing districts of Chikkamagaluru, Hassan and Kodagu have been facing the heat due to a shortage of labour affecting work at coffee plantations in these districts.
Despite high wages, labourers are not available to harvest coffee beans, especially in the Chikkamagaluru district. Although labour is available locally, the planters heavily depend on daily wage workers from North Karnataka as well as Assam and Madhya Pradesh.
Apart from the shortage of labourers, untimely rain in November and December has further aggravated the problems. The cloudy weather affected the harvesting and drying of the arabica variety. Now, the Robusta variety is ready for picking. Although the climatic conditions are favourable, a shortage of labourers has affected the harvest.
Planter H L Deepak of Koppa taluk said the planters are facing problems. The season has begun one month earlier even as labourers are not available for picking, he said. He added that the coffee beans are drying up in the plants and we will lose crops if it rains.
Apart from this, the labourers are demanding high wages. Last year, it was between Rs 4 and Rs 5 per kilo of coffee picked but now the labourers are demanding Rs 6 per kg. The coffee prices, which were above Rs 5,000, have slipped to Rs 4,000, now. According to Deepak, though the prices on international markets are higher, local traders are not giving reasonable prices to planters.
Jayaram of Aldur said 30 labourers from Assam had come for coffee picking in the month of December. However, they left demanding Rs 500 per day, while planters pay Rs 300 a day.
Rajashekar from Sakleshpur taluk in Hassan district, who owns 30 acres of coffee plantation and grows both robusta and arabica varieties, said this time, coffee beans were ready for harvest a month earlier due to continuous rainfall in 2022. Labourers are in high demand as picking has commenced at almost all the plantations, he said.