THE IMPACT OF COVID-19 PANDEMIC LOCKDOWN ON THE MIGRANT LABOUR CRISIS AND CARDAMOM HARVEST IN HIGH RANGES OF KERALA

This paper analyses the situation of cardamom planters and plantations against backdrop COVID-19 pandemic lack migrant labor during harvesting season. The global resulted in large scale exodus across India. For more than a decade, high ranges Kerala depended on large-scale force for weeding, manual irrigation, spraying pesticides fertilizers, handpicking cloves. As cultivation is highly intensive, scarcity decay unplucked cloves various plantations. shortage also drastic increase cost hand picking from plants. harvested around four times year, but initial harvest ongoing witnessed fall price. study focuses unstructured interviews conversations with small-scale planters, labourers, traders people employed commercial drying cardamom. findings suggest that many cultivators organized strategies to overcome crisis such as employing unskilled labourers at cost, bringing their hometowns private buses expense cultivators. provided an employment opportunity who lost livelihood lockdown. attempt here look larger transformation below contextualize local transformations economic milieu.