The United Planters’ Association of South India (UPASI), the apex trade body, has urged the Southern States—Tamil Nadu, Kerala, and Karnataka—to amend their land reforms acts, a move that will help growers with crop diversification.

UPASI President, M.P. Cherian, addressing the 129th annual conference of the trade body, said amidst changing market dynamics and policy regimes, growers have been working to diversify plantation land use through agroforestry and polyculture practices.

However, the land laws in effect today prevent us from growing crops that are not listed as plantation crops as per the Land Reforms Act, he said.

“Land being a state subject, the governments of Southern States must amend their land reforms acts to meet current and future needs and expand its scope to include high-demand crops,” Cherian said.

MULTIPLE CHALLENGES

Growers of plantation crops such as tea and coffee are facing multiple challenges such as rising costs, volatile price trends, and changing climate impacting their production. “A favorable public policy that will permit agroforestry in plantations can become a key component in mitigating the effects of climate change while producing a substantial set of co-benefits.

Agroforestry will contribute significantly to increasing land productivity and income from timber and non-timber crops,” Cherian said.

Tamil Nadu Minister for Finance, Planning, and Human Resources Management, Palanivel Thiaga Rajan, said demands of the plantation sector would be looked into and that the government was working towards a beneficiary-centric approach to make the targeted subsidies and incentives work.