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Tamil Nadu
Jasmine-growers lead lacklustre life
DISPLACED: Alagu, farm labourer of Parambapatti sitting in front of her house which will soon be acquired for expansion of airport.
“Where justice is denied, where poverty is enforced, where ignorance prevails, and where any one class is made to feel that society is an organised conspiracy to oppress, rob and degrade them, neither persons nor property will be safe.” Frederick Douglass -- Afro-American thinker.
The lives of jasmine cultivators of Parambupatti village near Perungudi taluk depict that fragrance seems to be a non-existing reality. The village has a lot of cultivators and farmhands who work in the jasmine farms.
Madurai Malli aka Madurai Jasmine is known for its fragrance worldwide, especially in places like France and other parts of Europe. This being the case, it is worth delving deep into the intricacies of the economics of jasmine cultivation and labour.
Alagu (35) is a mother of three. The family lives in a single room hutment. She has a small piece of land of 30 cents where she grows jasmine and simultaneously works as a labourer plucking flowers in other farms.
Her husband is visually disabled for the last two years and hence a non-contributing member with a legitimate dependency on her income. She manages to run the house with the wages she gets as farm labourer, which is “Oru padikku anju rooba sambalam” (Rs.5 for every 400 grams of jasmine flower plucked).
“We somehow manage to eke out Rs. 1000 a month to manage our lives,” says Alagu. Everyday essentials like milk do not find a place in their dietary component as they buy ‘parcel tea’ for Rs 5. Rs.2- rupee-a-kg-rice scheme of the State Government takes care of their appetite.
Her land, including the house, has been acquired by the State for expansion of Madurai airport fostering neo-liberal market economy, thus affecting numerous livelihoods in the region.
P. Paraman (40) has one and a half acre of jasmine farm, which is shared among the brothers. His 50 cents of land gives him a yield of 50 kg of jasmine in a season. During off-season, he cultivates vegetables like brinjal and ladies finger.
“We have to spend a lot on fertilizer and pesticides, rates of which have increased during the past few days,” said Paraman.
Both the cultivators and farm labourers here make minor purchases of essential commodities, which include oil and other items like lentil, from the towns once in a month.
The village is not an isolated and self-sufficient one but intricately linked with the agricultural marketing system, which has its form in nearby Madurai city.
The trading system here has a particular phenomenon where the yield is sold to a specific buyer who almost implicitly has a total control over the economic resource.
It is a sort of patron-client relationship where each seller gets a commission of Rs.12.50 for every sale worth Rs. 100.
The exporters here purchase jasmine only when there is a fall in prices.
So these families involved in farm labour and small farm business with higher costs of plant protection techniques find it difficult to cope with changing economic conditions.
It is essential to improve their economic condition to cope with the challenges of agriculture in a market-oriented economy, which is undergoing several changes in the wake of the process of globalisation and inflationary trends.
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