Coffee and cardamom growers voice concern at the withdrawal limit from the banks

Coffee and cardamom growers voice concern at the withdrawal limit from the banks

KOCHI: The coffee and cardamom growers have expressed concern at the withdrawal limit of Rs 20,000 per week imposed by RBI after the withdrawal of Rs 500 and Rs 1000 currency notes.

Coffee harvest is due to take place in December and the growers are engaged in preparing for the harvest. “The limit of Rs 20000 is too low for the payment of wages to the labourers. We may have no option but to stop work,’’ said Prashant Rajesh, secretary of Wayanad Coffee Growers Association
Wayanad the main coffee producing region of Kerala produces over 50,000 tonnes of coffee. Already, the growers have been hit hard by drought. They are expecting a 20% dip in the output. According to Rajesh unless the limit is raised, the work will be affected and the harvest could be delayed.

The cardamom growers concentrated in Idukki district are also experiencing the same difficulties. In fact the cardamom belt is in the midst of harvest and the arrivals are slowly increasing. ” We need Rs 1 or 2 lakh for the payment of wages. So the weekly limit will affect us for next few weeks,’’ said T C Mathew, secretary of Cardamom Growers Association.

Cardamom output too has been affected by drought. Consequently, the average price has peaked to a record of Rs 1300 per kg. The growers fear the arrivals will dry up in a few months as the output could be around 15,000 tonnes, half of what was produced last year.

Cardamom auctions did not take place on Wednesday due to a confusion on the announcement of scrapping of currency notes of higher denomination. Cardamom has daily auctions in Kerala and Tamil Nadu.
Source: ECONOMIC TIMES