• Malnutrition in estate sector on the rise
• Income levels drop due to restrictive payments
• Cost of living continues to escalate
• Acute lack of access to proper nutrition, health services
• Limited employment opportunities 

Malnutrition in the estate sector is on the rise in tandem with poverty, as income levels drop due to restrictive payments from the plantation companies even as the cost of living continues to rise.

The estate sector community, which consists of a majority of the country’s upcountry Tamil population, is among the worst affected due to the ongoing crisis. The community is largely excluded from mainstream society and faces an acute lack of access to proper nutrition and health services, which has led to a significant rise in malnutrition rates among children, pregnant and lactating women, and the elderly.

The main reasons for the high rates of malnutrition among the estate sector community are linked to their socioeconomic status. Many of these communities live in poverty due to having limited employment opportunities and lack access to adequate nutrition and healthcare.

This is compounded by limited access to safe and clean drinking water, inadequate sanitation and hygiene, and the risk of exposure to many diseases. The lack of access to health services combined with overcrowded living conditions further contributes to the problem.

School dropouts on the rise

Institute of Social Development Executive Director Muthulingam Periyasamy said that the lack of food had also resulted in the number of school dropouts increasing.

“School dropouts are at around 5-10% islandwide according to State statistics, but what is unique about the estate sector is that there are a lot of students having very poor attendance due to lack of food and money. In these situations, students fail to come to school two to three days a week and sometimes more, but because there are days they do attend, it cannot be considered as dropping out of school. Parents are unwilling to send children to school without food.”

The high cost of transportation is another reason for poor attendance: “Another factor is transport. Due to the long distances between the estate communities and the schools, coupled with the high transport costs, it is impossible for some parents to send their kids to school.” 

Inadequate payments?

National Union of Workers General Secretary Sebastian Phillips charged that income levels had continued to deteriorate due to plantation companies failing to make adequate payments.  

“There are certain families that do not have any income or too low an income. Whenever the children go to school, the teachers require various items which the parents cannot provide and then they don’t send their children to school. Another issue is the lack of food for children because of rising prices. This has also forced children to stay at home during school days.”

He added that the payments that were made were void of contributions to the Employees’ Provident Fund (EPF) and Employees’ Trust Fund (ETF).

“One of the main reasons for the lack of income in some families is because the estates deduct the payments of the workers who do not meet the daily targets and this payment also does not include EPF or ETF.”

He revealed that child labour was also on the rise due to the economic crisis and abject poverty in the estates. “Poverty has also pushed parents to send children to engage in work as well, resulting in numerous cases of child labour becoming prevalent. These children are sent to work in shops in the area.”

Most vulnerable

Meanwhile, the Sri Lanka Red Cross Society said that an initial assessment had revealed estate communities were among the most vulnerable groups in Sri Lanka.

“We have done an assessment by taking a sample of more than 3,000 people across 11 districts in the nine provinces, so it is a representative sample. What we have seen is that the estate sector people are one of the most vulnerable groups in the country, along with the fisheries sector,” Sri Lanka Red Cross Society Director General Dr. Mahesh Gunasekara told The Sunday Morning.

He added that the society had already kicked off a project to supply meals to people facing malnutrition: “We need to address the issue of malnutrition in the estate sector, especially among children. To this end we have started the ‘Feed a Child’ programme alongside Sri Lanka’s College of Paediatricians. We work with the college to help kids with severe acute malnutrition. We will be providing nutrition packs to children in the estate sector. It was started in the Nuwara Eliya District and we have been working with more than 800 kids there. We also hope to do another programme with UNICEF.”

RPCs response

Regional Plantation Companies (RPCs) Spokesman Roshan Rajadurai refuted claims that EPF and ETF were not being paid. 

“There’s a legal process – if people are not getting paid EPF/ETF, they can lodge a complaint with the Labour Department. Registered companies have to pay EPF and ETF as there are audits, both internal and external. There could be contract employees who won’t get EPF, but normal employees will be paid EPF/ETF if they work eight hours a day.”

He added that employees could complain against any estate manager who refused to make a payment.

“Nobody can withhold payments. If that is the case, the employee can easily make a complaint. No manager will reduce payments or withhold payments in this day and age.”

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Estate sector malnutrition

According to a recent report by the World Food Programme, the prevalence of malnutrition among children aged 6-59 months in the estate sector community is estimated to be at 24.6% – higher than the national average of 22%. This is in stark contrast to urban areas, where the prevalence of malnutrition is only 12.2%. 

In addition, the report also found that the prevalence of stunting among children in the estate sector community was higher than the national average, with 48.8% of children in this population being stunted.

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