Occupational hazards of cashew workers in Kerala

Abstract

India is the major exporter of processed cashews, to put it more precisely it is about 65percent of global cashew exports. Cashew is an export-oriented commodity, earning considerable foreign exchange for the country. Much of the processed cashew export from India happens from Kollam, the world’s cashew processing capital. Cashew processing companies employ more women than men and are a labour intensive industry. Women workers constitute a major segment in cashew processing industry and roughly more than 90 per cent of the workers in cashew processing units are women. Participation of women in economic activities has reduced their financial dependency on their family but, at the same time it has given rise to several complex health problems for them. Various macro and micro economic factors such as imposing of high import duty of 9.36 per cent on raw cashews by the Union government and frequent layoffs because of lack of raw materials have resulted in the loss of job by several thousand of skilled labourers. This is creating unnecessary mental stress also for the workers. The working environment of cashew workers has been the object of scholarly and policy concerns for long. However, many of the insecurities hitches the lives of cashew workers starting from health hazards to lack of effective social protection seem to have persisted till dateIn this context, this study aims to reveal the occupational health hazards of cashew workers in Kollam district of Kerala.