Social issues and worker productivity in plantations

By N. Yogaratnam PhD (London) Chairman, Tree Crops Agro Consultants

The ILO says “Economic and Social development have far reaching implications for the way society makes decisions about development and the values and principles on which institutions are built and progress is made”

The UNDP says, “Economic growth and human development move together in the long run, but there is no automatic link - a simple fact, often forgotten. Neither economic growth nor advances in human development are sustainable without the other”

Whatever may be said, the common goals of economic and social developments are ; alleviation of poverty , elimination of inequality and unemployment, provision of maximum level of education, health, housing, food and broadening of economic and social opportunities.

Privatisation of management of a labour dominated plantation industry, brought about some hope and aspirations for improving the working and living conditions of the industry’s vast workforce.

This gained recognition within the plantation management companies that a content and motivated workforce is crucial for improving the productivity and profitability of estates. This perception further gained ground in the context of the emerging labour shortage, growing stigma attached to estate work and increasing tendency for out - migration among younger persons in search of non - estate jobs.

Plantation workers were themselves pressing, through trade unions and government support, for according priority in the matter of social development - an area that everyone agrees has received a backseat in the scheme of estate administration.

Over the years, labour management has undergone a transformation.

Colonial style of management rooted in the distrust of workers and in the authoritarian and negative use of power has been discarded, although its legacy may still be visible in some forms. The de-colonization in labour management practices has already taken place.

Social change and better awareness have contributed to this process. New changes and challenges demand new responses and new initiatives.

It is accepted that during the colonial era, the derogatory expression “coolie” was used for workers.

It was subsequently replaced by the word ‘labourer’. Now a new concept of partnership is, emerging wherein a worker is a professional and “knowledge worker” in his/her own right because he/she has the intimate knowledge of the tasks performed.

Thus, a ‘mental shift’ has been taking place in plantations from the control orientation (IR approach) to managing people (HRM approach), to partnership (HRD approach) and now as human capital.

Unresolved issues

The plantation industry is also faced with many challenges. Besides external factors such as world market prices, technological advances, developments in competing countries, the sector is also faced with a plethora of internal problems relating to production costs, resource availability, resource allocation and management. Among these, the labour related issues are fast gaining importance.

The public sector had launched several projects to facilitate and improve direct productive investments and social development, with the hope of improving the sector’s competitiveness in the global market.

There have been few public sector projects funded by donor agencies, the government and the plantation companies, viz. The Plantation Development Support Program, The Plantation Reform Project, The Estate Housing Development Program, The Plantation School Development Program, The Plantation Reform Project two /Plantation Development Program etc.

Although these investments had the potential to increase labour demand in the sector, yet the labour supply to the estates and labour productivity have been deteriorating. Increasing trends of labour out - migration and low out - turn resulting from rising worker aspirations and opportunities for outside work have been noted.

Labour availability

Labour supply of estates is dependent on two main factors; the availability of workers who are willing to work in the estates and, the frequency with which they report to work in the estates when work is offered.

In addition to these two factors, the productivity of the labour - the efficiency with which the allocated tasks are carried out - is also a very important labour performance indicator.

For the larger part, the plantations depend on the resident workforce (about 84% of the worker population resides in the estates).

Increased access to information, citizenship rights and increased mobility have opened doors to the plantation community to participate in economic activities outside plantations.

Given the stigma attached to work on estates, traditional management practices and harsh working conditions due to the nature of work, the estate inhabitants - - the more educated and politicized youth in particular - - do not give preference to estate employment. To aggravate the problem further, even the workers who remain in the estates do not report to work regularly when work is offered.

It may seem paradoxical that despite giving an attendance bonus, the industry is plagued with rising absenteeism.

Out - Migration

In certain cases and situations, out- migration would be a welcome thing like when the dependency ratio is high, leading to a growing number of frustrated unemployed youth on the estate. It, however, becomes a problem affecting estate productivity when registered workers or spouses (mostly, men) while continuing to avail of the estate welfare amenities, regularly absent themselves or seek early retirement to take up employment in their adjoining towns or villages.

On the other hand, the considerations that make ‘outside’ jobs more attractive also need to be appreciated. With the mushrooming of townships (offering jobs in shops and related establishments), construction activities, garment factories and tourist centers - not to mention the lure of the city lights- young people who would otherwise have remained on estates are now moving away from the so-called ‘demeaning’ field options associated with plantation employment.

Labour productivity

Low labour productivity has often been a worry for the plantation industry. Productivity per worker at 15 - 20 kg of green leaf per plucker per day is low compared to, 23 kg in North India, 25 kg in South India and 30 - 35 kg in Kenya. Also, contribution of labour towards COP is 60 % in Sri Lanka as against 43 % in Kenya.

The overall COP per kg in US$ , is 1.75 in Sri Lanka, 1.3 in Bangladesh, 1.25 in India, 1.00 in Kenya and 0.75 in Vietnam. All these indicate the severity of this problem in Sri Lanka.

Conventional solutions for improving labour productivity concentrated on giving wage incentives to motivate the workers to work harder.

But these alone are not expected to address, the root causes of low labour productivity, relating to health, worker attitudes, education, etc.

To be continued