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Testing time seen ahead as buyers, stockists defer decisions; labour shortage adds to woes
From cardamom to coffee, potatoes to pulses, tea to turmeric and pepper to poultry items, the second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic seems to have affected the commodities supply chain.
These commodities were affected to some extent during the first wave last year but then, the rural areas were mostly untouched. But this time around, people in the rural areas also have been affected, throwing spanner in the works of the commodities supply chain.
“The concern this year is rural areas are witnessing Covid cases unlike last year,” said Giriraj Singhania, Managing Director of Raipur-based Shivalik Engineering Industries Ltd. His firm supplies components to tractor and automobile firms.
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In Kerala the pineapple sector is reported to be worst-hit with more than 50% workers headed back home The surge in the second Covid-19 wave is likely to aggravate labour scarcity in the coffee- and rubber-producing regions of Karnataka and Kerala as rising infections and curbs imposed by various States is likely to impact the return of migrant labour from States such as Assam and West Bengal.
Workers from Assam, Chhattisgarh and Bengal, who account for close to half of the workers in Karnataka coffee estates, have gone home to cast their votes in the Assembly elections.Around five lakh workers are estimated to be employed in Karnataka’s coffee sector. Most of the workers left for their home States in early March and the shortage of labourers is being felt during the coffee and pepper harvest this year, growers said.
Taskforce on rubber recommends to treat NR as agricultural product
March 03, 2021
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The taskforce on the rubber sector constituted by the Central Government has recommended that natural rubber be treated as an agricultural product, the State government informed the Kerala High Court.
The taskforce also recommended that the Union Ministry of Agriculture should examine the possibility of including the natural rubber under the MSP scheme.
These submissions were made in a statement filed in response to a writ petition seeking a directive to fix a minimum support price for natural rubber.
The petition also sought to remove natural rubber from the list of industrial crops and classify it as agricultural products such as cotton, jute, tobacco, etc. There had been crash in the prices of rubber in the last few years. This had made the production of rubber unviable and uneconomic.