Directive for Worker Well-Being Reduces Coffee Harvest

A directive for the implementation of safety and health of employees at work from the Ministry of Labour & Social Affairs (MoLSA) has caused an uproar at coffee plantations, affecting the season’s productivity.

Coffee plantations, which are in their peak season for collecting berries after the rainy season, absorb more than 20,000 daily labourers.

The Temporary Employees Working Condition Directive, which took effect during the first week of the Ethiopian New Year, prohibits transportation of temporary employees using trucks and other transportation facilities that are not meant for human transportation.

“We have laid down a basic principle that promotes the well-being of all temporary employees, particularly those who are vulnerable. In principle we believe that the transportation of labourers should be made using appropriate means transportation, said an expert from the MoLSA Peaceful Industry Maintenance Directorate.

The root cause of the problem is the lack of road infrastructure reaching to the farms. Though farmers share the principle adopted in the law, implementation is practically impossible so long as the problem remains unsolved.

Because of the non availability of adequate facilities to transport these daily labourers to the areas of the plantations in Kaffa, Sheka and Bench Maji zones, the coffee plantations are not being availed of labourers that they should have had at this time of year.

“This is the time we pick our coffee and after few weeks the beans will begin falling, which will decrease the quality of the coffee that we produce,” said Tadelle Abraha, general manager and the major shareholder of Green Coffee who earlier this year bought the Tepi Plantation from the Privatization & Public Enterprises Supervising Authority (PPESA) for thirty five million dollars.

And as all of the plantations are on the run to gather as many labourers as possible, transporting all these employees using buses is very challenging, according to Tadelle, who has 7,000 farmers working at his plantation and is looking for more.

Haile Gebreselassie’s plantation, Horizon Addis Plantation, and Gerado Plantation are all in the same area and requiring labour for collection of the coffee beans.

Kemal Mohammed General Operations Manager of Horizon Plantations, on his side appreciates the problem. “The problem is highly time sensitive, and had we not reached temporary solutions with the Zonal Transport Bureau the cost would have been so high at national level.”

“This is happening in this specific area and we have tried to contact the local government and the federal Ministry of Trade for solutions,” Tadelle explained.

Horizon Plantations, on its side has devised an intermediary solution. “We are processing to buy a bus, and supply transport service on our own.” The General Operations Manager told Fortune. He added, it is better to find solutions locally, than reaching out to the Federal bodies, which are physically and operationally too far away from the problem.

For the time being until the regional government gives a ruling on the issue, the administration of the local area in Sheka zone has allowed the plantations in the Zone to operate as usual and the zone administrator has had discussions with the regional administration in Hawassa.

“We are seeing others working for example in the road projects both in Addis Abeba and outside of Addis Abeba transporting their labourers using tracks – they do not use buses which we are being compelled to use,” said Tadelle.

Plantations need these additional labourers for a maximum of two months until the coffee beans are collected. They had started transporting labourers to the plants using tractors and trucks beginning on Friday September 18, 2015.

Tepi Coffee Plantation that had planned to collect 3,000ql of coffee per day has fallen from its plan by half, it claims. The maximum they collect per day is 5,000ql if they work with full force, according to Tadelle.


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