Jobin is among the many who drive workers from Tamil Nadu daily in his jeep to the cardamom plantations in the border areas of the high ranges here. Since last month, after plucking of the final crop, the daily trips had as such reduced. Now, after COVID-19 fears forced the Theni district administration to ask workers not to travel to plantations, the trips have totally ceased. Many like Jobin face bleak days ahead.
The workers who come from Tamil Nadu are mostly women, who reach the plantations though the Kumily, Cumbom Mettu and Bodimettu check posts. They are much valued for the skill they show in selecting ripened beans, says Varghese Kurien, a medium-level farmer.
Harvest time
Though the harvest time is around the monsoon in June/July, the current months are when works such as clearing dried leaves from the plants and irrigation activities are held. Women workers usually collect ripened beans, clear dried leaves, and cover the soil with dried leaves. Their absence this year may delay plantation deadlines for the year, says Mr Kurien.
Some of the plantations had allowed the daily workers to be absent from work after the final crop was plucked last month, says a staff at a plantation at Vandanmedu.
Yet there were a few coming for work. With COVID-19 fears, the workers have totally stopped coming.
Jobin, rendered jobless now, wonders when the situation would be normal and when he would be back at work, ferrying workers through the lush pathways to the plantations.
