About Us

Who we are and What we do

The Planters' Association of Tamil Nadu(PAT) is the representative organization of the plantation industry in the State of Tamil Nadu,consisting of Tea, Coffee, Rubber and Cardamom plantations. It was formed in the year 1954 in anticipation of the States re-organization in 1956 and the formation of a separate linguistic State for Tamil Nadu, in order to deal with the problems of the industry, including representations to the State Government and Local Bodies. Read More

Tea
Coffee
Natural Rubber
Cardamom

About Tea
Tea Area & Production
Major Tea Producers
Impact of globalization

Tea is an aromatic beverage commonly prepared by pouring hot or boiling water over cured leaves of the tea plant, After water, tea is the most widely consumed beverage in the world. It has a cooling, slightly bitter, and astringent flavour that many people enjoy Tea has long been promoted for having a variety of positive health benefits. Recent studies suggest that green tea may help reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease and some forms of cancer, promote oral health, reduce blood pressure, help with weight control, improve antibacterial and antivirasic activity, provide protection from solar ultraviolet light, and increase bone mineral density.

Tea Scenario - 2014

TEA AREA - 2014 ( in hectares)

TEA PRODUCTION - 2014 ( in million kgs)

In today’s context, India’s Rs 10,000 Crore turnover tea industry has not only lost its pre-eminent position as the world’s largest tea producer to China, our country’s share is just about 25% of the world tea area. The share percentage of India’s tea exports had fallen to 11.6% in 2012. India now occupies the fourth position in tea exports after Kenya, China and Sri Lanka. The diminishing share and standing of India in the international tea trade amply illustrates the bleak prospects for the industry. The rapid emergence of non-traditional and new competitors to Indian tea has been witnessed over the past 2 decades. This has contributed to a large increase in the global tea production, which has resulted in a prolonged glut in the tea trade.

Status of Indian Tea

Major Tea Producers - 2014

CHINA - 39%
INDIA - 24%
KENYA - 9%
SRI LANKA - 7%
OTHERS - 21%

Major Tea Exporters - 2014 ( in million kgs)

South Indian tea had a very secure market, until the disintegration of the USSR in the mid 90’s. After Russia became a free-market economy, the Russian buyers started sourcing their teas from markets other than India, in order to achieve the maximum cost advantage. As a result, new low cost players like Vietnam, Indonesia and Kenya, to name a few, emerged in the international tea trade scene. Besides eating away into India’s share of exports of tea, a situation arose where teas from those competing countries started being off-loaded in the Indian domestic market. Much of the teas so imported were re-exported from the country as ‘Indian Tea’, leading to a displacement of genuine Indian teas of equal volume, which might have otherwise found an export market.

Wages(Rs/day) Vs. Avg. Auction Price of Tea(Rs/kg )

Wages (Rs/day)
Avg Tea price (Rs/kg )

Soon after the year 2000, when the full impact of the financial crisis was felt, it was evident that the tea industry had to adopt a few structural adjustments to face the new economic situation and to ensure the long-term survival of the industry. It is an undeniable fact that in the tea industry, the labor costs forms the largest chunk in the total cost of production, often extending up to 55%. There was very little to be done to reduce other fixed cost elements like power, fuel, fertilizers, insecticides etc., which were largely beyond the control of the tea producers. . Mounting costs and steadily declining price realization was a sure recipe for financial disaster. The prospects of the industry sliding into sickness and the resulting unemployment of the large labour population and its social consequences were frightening. With such a high component of labor cost, South Indian tea finds it extremely difficult to compete with emerging producer countries like Vietnam, Indonesia or Malawi, where the labor cost is only around 25 to 30% of what we incur here. Under The Plantations Labor Act, 1951, employers are required to provide ‘cradle-to-grave’ welfare schemes like free housing, free medical facilities, free water supply and sanitation, free crèche facilities, education facilities etc., which in the normal course are panchayati-raj functions. Plantation employers in the other newly emerged competing countries are not burdened with these responsibilities.

About Coffee
Coffee Production

Coffee is the most traded commodity in the world and production is dominated by the Latin American countries. Nearly 80% of the Indian production has to be exported, in view of the restricted domestic market for coffee, chiefly confined to South India, as is the production of the commodity. Price realization for coffee is greatly dependant on international trade patterns. As in the case of tea, awareness about the health benefits of coffee has partly ensured a gradual shift in favour of coffee consumption amongst the youth in the country, aided by the emergence of branded coffee chains……. a welcome sign for producers.

Coffee Production (in Tonnes)

TN
Kerala
Karnataka
Others
India

About Natural Rubber
Natural Rubber Production

Natural Rubber

Natural Rubber is an industrial raw material and the chief producing regions are located in the South-East Asian region. Much of the Indian production is consumed domestically. The fortunes of rubber depend largely on the demand generated by the automotive tyre industry. Robust demand for rubber in China and other developing nations have ensured stable prices for the commodity since 2005. But this trend has taken a beating following the world-wide recession, leading to lower demand.

Natural Rubber Production (in Tonnes)

TN
Kerala
Karnataka
Others
India

About Cardamom
Cardamom Production

Cardamom

Cardamom along with pepper constitutes the spices produced on an industrial scale. Production of these crops emanates from the tropical regions of the world. India has a traditionally healthy market for spices.

Cardamom Production (in Tonnes)

TN
Kerala
Karnataka
India

The Planters' Association of Tamil Nadu(PAT) is the representative organization of the plantation industry in the State of Tamil Nadu, consisting of Tea, Coffee, Rubber and Cardamom plantations. It was formed in the year 1954 in anticipation of the States re-organization in 1956 and the formation of a separate linguistic State for Tamil Nadu in order to deal with the problems of the industry, including representations to the State Government and Local Bodies.

The Association deals with all industry-wide issues faced by plantations in Tamil Nadu, on such varied subjects as industrial relations, land maters, forests, State taxation, local levies, legislation, development etc. Since the Association represents one of the largest industries, namely plantation industry in Tamil Nadu, this Association is regarded as one of the premier employers’ associations by the State of Tamil Nadu. Due to such recognition, it represents the industry on a number of State Government-constituted Advisory Committees and Statutory Boards. The Association celebrated its Silver Jubilee in 1979. To commemorate the occasion, a Silver Jubilee Project was instituted. From this Project, vocational and technical education of plantation workers’ children is promoted by extending scholarships to cover tuition and hostel fees. The Project has been registered as a Public Trust as “The PAT Silver Jubilee Education and Welfare Trust”. Over the years, several meritorious students from plantations have immensely benefited from the financial aid given by the Trust, in support of their pursuit for higher academic qualifications. The Golden Jubilee of PAT was observed in the year 2004. Several dignitaries including Governors, Chief Ministers, Central and State Ministers, experts and eminent personalities from within the country and abroad have graced the occasion of the Annual Conferences of PAT in the past. The Association marches into its 60th year of service in the cause of the plantation industry in the State, which is a major contributor to the State and Central exchequers, besides providing livelihood to a large number of people dependent on it directly and indirectly. The year 2014 marks the commencement of the Diamond Jubilee of PAT, whose eventful journey in the past, gives it the confidence to march into the future.

When it was first formed, the Association was known as the Association of Planters of the State of Madras, (A.P.M.), but following the change in the name of the State from Madras to Tamil Nadu, the association’s name was changed to “The Planters' Association of Tamil Nadu” (P.A.T.). PAT is registered as a Society under the Societies Registration Act. The headquarters of the Association was shifted from Coonoor where it was situated for more than four decades, to Coimbatore, in April 2001. The Association has around 150 members, drawn primarily from the corporate sector of plantations, consisting of large and medium estates, besides small growers having holdings in the districts of The Nilgiris, Coimbatore, Salem, Dindigul, Theni, Tirunelveli and Kanyakumari. The holding pattern of our members is around 22,000 hectares of tea, 3200 hectares of coffee, 1650 hectares of rubber and 900 hectares of spices in the State, employing about 35,000 workers.

Nilgiri Planters' Association(NPA)Conoor
NilgiriWynaad Planters Association(NWPA)Gudalur
Anamallais Planters' Association(APA)Valparai
Shevaroys Planters' Association(SPA)Yercaud
MyaPalanimalai Farmers Association(MPFA)Kodaikanal
Kanyakumari District Planters' Association(KDPA)Nagercoil

All the above associations including PAT are affiliated to The United Planters' Association of Southern India(UPASI), the apex body for the plantation industry in Southern India.

Some of the chief objectives for which PAT has been formed are

To promote, diffuse and disseminate knowledge relating to planting and the plantation industry.
To promote and protect the interests of plantations in Tamil Nadu.
To promote scientific knowledge of the cultivation and processing of plantation crops.
To promote or seek redress against legislative and other measures affecting the plantation industry and to make representations to Local, State and other authorities on matters connected with these objects or any of them.
To negotiate with trade unions, settle disputes and act on behalf of members before any authority including Tribunals and Courts.
To set up charitable trusts, projects and schemes especially for the welfare of the plantation industry, its workers and their dependents and for this purpose to create trusts or other agencies and administer the same.

Nilgiris Region
Nilgiris Wyanad Region
Anamallais region
Shevaroys region
Bodi-Pulneys region
Highwavys region
Singampatti region
Kanyakumari Region
UPASI

The story starts with the defeat of Tippu Sultan in the battle of Seringapatam in 1799. This triggered the imperial design of The East India Company to extend their rule to the whole of the peninsula. So three men who had served with Lord Wellesly in the final campaign against Tippu - Colin Mackenzie(who later went on to become the Surveryor-General of India), Francis Buchanan, army doctor-turned explorer, and William Lampton of the Madras Army were sent for surveying this part of the country. Their survey helped in spotting the fertile forest regions suitable for cultivating coffee in various regions of Mysore and Madras Presidency. Coffee planting first started in Mysore; it started its entry into Madras through the Malabar District. In 1825, Capt. Bevan of the 27th regiment of the Madras Native Infantry, took charge of the garrison at Manantoddy in North Wynaadin Malabar District and soon his attention changed to cultivation of coffee in the district. Though information is scanty, Capt. Bevan would certainly seem to be the pioneer of coffee planting on the Western Ghats. It was from the Wynaad, a “Wynaad Coffee Plantation” formed by a Madras based Parry & Co., that paved way for the spread of coffee to the South-East Wynaad, which later became the GudalurTaluk of The NilgirisDistrict in present day Tamil Nadu .

In 1819, John Sullivan,The Collector of Coimbatore “discovered” Ootacamund in Nilgiris after which, in 1832, Dr.Christie, a surgeon out of Madras was given a special duty to conduct meteorological and geological inquiries in Southern India. He then started experimenting with tea seeds sourced from China on a piece of land in Nilgiris, during which he observed that the Camellia which closely resembled tea, grew well on the Nilgiris. After his death, three of his tea plants were given to Colonel Crewe, commandant of Ootacamund, who put them in his garden. Lord William Bentick obtained seeds from China on a large scale and distributed them for experiments around 1835. Then Crewe and M.Perrottet, a French Botanist were reported to grow them luxuriantly in 1839 but it took another fifteen years to start growing tea on a commercial scale in The Nilgiris. Mann opened up a tea plantation near Coonoor. His success inspired hopes of planting tea and commercial planting of tea began in Thiashola estate in 1859.Dunsandle estate was opened near Kalhatty by Rae. The first estate in the Kotagiri area emerged in around 1863. In 1840, Dr.Magrath, the residency surgeon, sent coffee plants from Mysore to Lascelles and Pope on the Nilgiris who opened the Haradathorai Estate near Kotagiri along with Magrath. Then in 1843,M.D.Cockburn, generally considered to be the pioneer of coffee planting in the Nilgiris and later in the Shevaroys( Salem District) is remembered in Catherine’s Falls, named after his wife, started the Kannahatti Estate near Kotagiri. Other estates which were started in the about the same time were the Bonnahutti (commonly known as Hulical)andNonsuch near Coonoorin about 60 acres.

James Ouchterlony, planted three estates, Lauriston, Suffolk and Sandy Hills in the OuchterlonyValley (later named after him) under the superintendence of Alpin Fowler, marked the commencement of “intelligent planting on the Nilgiris”.Expansion started happening in the Nilgiris-Wynaad region withOuchterlony taking on lease about 20,000 acres of janmam lands owned by the Tirumalpad of NilamburKovilagam, the royal family. Most of the initially planted coffee were devastated by black bug, stem bore and other leaf diseases. There was a brief spell of gold prospecting and mining in the area during the 1880s, after which the coffee planting wasresumed from 1890. Tea plantations started to override coffee from the year 1897, after which most of the coffee estates were uprooted and replaced with tea. Only some of the coffee estates were retained in the Ouchterlony Valley.

In 1864, R.J.Lowry of the Carnatic Coffee Company applied for land on the western slopes of Anamallai, which the Government at that time had classified as ‘waste’. This was when the first estates of Anamallais, Waterfall and the Waverley estates were started, after which no other permission for acquisition of land was granted by the Government until 1876. In the year 1897, the first set of planters who were the real pioneers of Anamallais arrived. Among them were G.A.Marsh (better known as ‘Carver’ Marsh and considered to be the father of Anamallais) and C.R.T.Congreve.New estates followed in quick succession. James A.Corcker and his successor A.H.Sharpof Finlay Muir & Co. Ltd opened Valparai and Varaaparai estates for coffee and cardamom. Then E.J. Martin, O.A.Bannantine and UnwinMaclure opened Monika, Sirikunda and Stanmore in 1898-99. Another estate which came into being around the same time was Iyerpadi, which got its name from Narasiyer, a well- known barrister from Coimbatore and one of the first Indians to become involved in the plantation industry. Iyerpadi, along with Paralaiand Kalianipandal estate which later became the Lower Sheikalmudiconstituted the Iyerpadi group, which was later acquired by English and Scottish Joint Cooperative Wholesale Society Ltd., by around 1919. Bombay Burmah Trading Corporation Ltd., bought a block of 3000 acres of land in 1912 and started MukkotuMudi estate. Much of the expansion of tea in the Anamallais started from 1900 onwards, growing upto 13,500 acres by the time of the World War II. Writing in 1903, M.Clark reported: “today the total acreage is 36,937 acres on 38 estates, making the Anamallais the largest planting district in South India.”

The Shevaroys in the higher reaches of Salem District were known to the Europeans even before the Nilgiris, for its apt condition for Sanatorium and as a holiday station. Legend has it that a group of farmers from the banks of the Cauvery river led by their chief,Shervarayanwho were escaping the wrath of Tipu Sultan’s invading armies in the 1700 had settled down on the Shevaroys. Thus, the hills became known as the ShervarayanMalai (hill in Tamil). The name got subsequently anglicised as ‘Shevaroys’. It was considered to have preceded the Nilgiris as the place for European estates. It owes it to M.D.Cockburn (pronounced Coburn), Collector of Salem.He initially planted apples, pears, loquats, oranges, lime and coffee. In 1820s, he granted the land to several other Europeans for cultivation of coffee. One of them was G. Fischer who is considered to be the father of coffee cultivation in Shevaroys. The area is chiefly coffee country, with small and medium planters.

The Pulney Hills comprising of the famous Kodaikanal Hill Station is an extension of the Western Ghats. The hills have been divided into the Upper Pulneys, the Middle Hills and the Lower Pulneys. The planting activity largely confined to the Lower Pulneys, which range in altitude from 800 meters to 1350 meters. Earliest records maintained by Jesuit missionaries indicate that the present day St Mary’s Estate (originally Manalur Estate) was opened in 1846 by a Frenchman Envile de Fondclair, which the priests later on acquired in 1876. Large scale development of plantations in the lower Pulneys commenced from 1925 onwards. The transformation from the traditional hill banana crop to coffee began in earnest in the 1950s with the active support from the Coffee Board of India. Inter-cropping of coffee and bananas and oranges, besides other horticultural produce proved to be successful in this region.

J.L.Benson serving in Tea Estates India was the early entrant into planting in the High Wavys in present day Theni district. The first planting was done in Cloudland Division by Napier Ford in 1927. Cloudland was a separate entity, privately owned by Parsees and later bought over by Madras Tea Estates Ltd. The entire area of 9894 acres was assigned by the Government of Madras to Madras Tea Estates Ltd and tea was progressively planted by Benson and his successors. In 1943, Cloudland Tea Estate Company sold their entire 725 acres to Madras Tea Estates. This, together with the area purchased from the Government formed the present day Highwavys Group of estates, better known for some of the highest yields for tea in the country.

Around 1925, the Bombay Burmah Trading Corporation Ltd (BBTC) obtained on lease, large extents of forest land from the Zamindar of Singampatti(the hamlet of lions) for development of plantations. The lands so obtained were planted with tea, coffee, cinchona and cardamom. Over a period of time came into existence, the Manjolai, Manimuttar and Oothu estates forming the Singampatti Group of estates of M/s. BBTC Ltd. This group is the pioneer of organic cultivation of tea in India.

Kanyakumari planting district became the part of Madras State in November 1956 after the states reorganization. Prior to this,Kanyakumari was part of the South Travancore district of Travancore State. Until the end of the 19th century, rubber cultivation in India was just a little more than experimental. It was not until 1902 that Periyar Rubber estate was opened in Travancore. Opening of plantations had started in the early 1900s when the area was under Travancore rule by its erstwhile royal family. It was a trio of British planters – Thomas Patrick Madden Alexander, William Coombe and Reginald Garnier who took to rubber planting and they planted Vaikundam, which was the first rubber estate. Planting activity in Kanyakumari is confined chiefly to rubber. On the reorganization of states and after PAT was formed, plantations in the Malabar-Wynaad and Malabar regions were lost to Madras, on these territories ceding to Kerala.

The United Planters' Association of Southern India (UPASI) was founded in 1893 as an apex body. UPASI was a federation of the district planters associations which had been founded earlier in the planting regions of the then Madras Presidency, princely states of Mysore, Cochin, Travancore and Coorg- an area directly administered by the Government of India. In the years immediately after the end of World War II, at a time when the struggle for independence was gaining momentum, there were a series of complaints and grievances about the poor conditions of employment, wages and living conditions of labour employed in plantations, which were mostly under British ownership. A number of committees appointed by the Government of India had made critical comments about these matters. Labour unions were also being slowly organized. A number of labour enactments of general application had been enacted and some more were on the legislative anvil. In December 1947, UPASI founded a separate organization called The South India Estates’ Labour Relations Organization (S.I. ELRO) as an autonomous body with separate articles of association, management committee, membership subscription and secretariat, though overall under the UPASI umbrella. The problems of each State were dealt with by a State ELRO committee. For Madras, it was the Madras State ELRO, which was another arm of UPASI. Soon after independence and under the mandate of the Constitution of India, the State Government was also considering imposition of new taxes, more particularly an agricultural income-tax on plantations for the first time. This led to the necessity for greater interaction between the planters' bodies and the State Governments and between the planters and the trade unions. This was also the time when the States Reorganization Commission appointed for delimitation of the country on linguistic lines was making headway with its work and the submission of the commission’s report was imminent. It was against this background that UPASI felt that a reorganization of its structure was inevitable. Initiating the first steps in 1954, UPASI put through a modified organizational structure of the industry by the formation of State Planters Associations for Madras, Travancore-Cochin, and the combined State of Mysore and Coorg. The result was the merger of the SI ELRO’s function in UPASI to the extent of coordination and representation at the industry-wide level and the delegation of the rest of the functions of UPASI to autonomous State Planters' Associations. The new State Planters' Associations took over the responsibility of dealing with all labour and general planting issues arising within or affecting their own geographical areas. Thus, PAT was born in April 1954 as an offshoot of UPASI. The formation of the Association of Planters of the State of Madras (as PAT was originally christened on it's formation) was taken by convening the Inaugural Meeting on 24th March 1954.