Govt takeover of land hits export commitments: Poabs Group

Kochi, Sep 9 (UNI) Kerala-based Poabs Group, which has made a mark internationally with its organic tea and coffee exports, claims the LDF government's takeover of a large part of its estate has hit its export commitments and will ''hurt'' the credibility of Indian companies in the overseas market.

Group Director Thomas Jacob told UNI that while the state government was pledging for the promotion of organic farming on one side, it had no qualms in taking over 120 hectares of the Poabs plantation in the Nelliyampathy hills in the state.

This had resulted in the shutting down of its 100 per cent export-oriented organic coffee and pepper processing plants, Mr Jacob added.

''It is unfortunate that the government took this decision unilaterally even without giving us a hearing. The government claims that this is forest land and does not stand to reason as it has been existing as a plantation for the past nearly 100 years,'' Mr Jacob claimed.

Besides putting in jeopardy the nearly Rs 25 crore investment made by the group in the estate, the government action had also endangered the livelihood of 200 labourers, he said.

It had also disrupted the export commitments made by the Poabs Group to its buyers in France, Germany, Japan and the US, who had gone to considerable lengths to market the tea, coffee and pepper as ''organic jewels from Kerala'', he said.

''It takes time to build credibility for a product in the overseas market. Our buyers have spent a lot of effort and money to position our niche products, which have given a good name to the product. Our inability to meet our export commitments will hurt the credibility of Indian companies,'' Mr Jacob said.

Also, at a time when the Centre was trying to reopen closed estates in Kerala, it was unfortunate that a thriving plantation had been shut down. ''We are prepared to pay higher lease but the government is not willing to talk to us,'' he added.

The Kerala government had in July this year refused to renew the lease for the 120 hectare 'Thuthumpara Estate', which formed a part of the 500 hectare Poabs Organic Estates, on the ground that it was forest land.

The 'Thuthumpara Estate' had been leased by the Divan of Cochin in 1908 for a period of 99 years and had changed several hands before being taken over by the Poabs Group, a company run by the P O Abraham family, in 1995.

''When we took over the estate in 1995, it was lying in a dilapidated condition, having been abandoned by its previous occupants nearly 16 years before that. We painstakingly revived the estate and turned it into an award winning and internationally certified organic plantation, growing tea, coffee and pepper,'' Mr Jacob said.

With the government's decision not to renew the lease at the end of the 99-year lease period in July this year, the Poabs Group had lost a large chunk of its estate, which had exported 250 tonnes each of organic coffee and tea last year besides 60 tonnes of organic pepper.

UNI