INVESTING IN HEALTHCARE FOR STRONGER COFFEE FARMERS

Known as the “land of coffee”, India’s Chikmagalur district in Karnataka is a densely forested region in which coffee plants flourish. But this thriving landscape belies the health challenges of the workers that cultivate and harvest the coffee. On six estates in our sourcing network, which have a combined permanent workforce of 300 people, numerous occupational health issues were detected, namely musculoskeletal injuries, high blood pressure, diabetes, and respiratory illnesses.

Despite the access to hospital and clinics, just five kilometers away on foot, these conditions are often misdiagnosed or even overlooked due to a general lack of awareness of the
symptoms. Which is why, in partnership with one of our coffee customers, our coffee team is providing medical check-ups and eye-tests to all workers on the estates, as part of a social
outreach programme. 40 PPE kits were also distributed across the estates with the workers trained on first aid and correct PPE use while spraying and carrying out other potentially hazardous tasks like pruning and lopping the branches of shade trees.

 The workers with serious illness will be referred to the nearby hospitals and medicines will be prescribed for minor illness. Workers with serious conditions are referred to the nearby hospital, with medicine prescribed for those with minor illnesses. All diagnoses are reported to the estate owners and support provided to the worker to cover any necessary treatment or medical requirements. 

"Many times the workers have issueslike joint pains, high blood pressure etc. that they are not able to identify. This check-up helped in identifying all those problems. We would like Olam and the partners to continue this activity in the coming seasons as well". Preetham Francis, Owner, Hoskhan ii Estate.

Educating the workers on early detection and prevention of such conditions allows them to continue the career they depend on, and for some, it’s even a lifesaver. Through the social metrics of AtSource, we know that 100% of the households of registered farmers in Karnataka have access to healthcare facilities in the current crop year.