Planters in Kerala , the most prominent plantation crop growing state in the country , have called for taking up intercropping on a large scale to tide over the challenges of high cost of production and low price realisation faced by plantations comprising tea, coffee, cardamom , rubber and cocoa."The total value of production in the state from plantations has declined from Rs 21,000 crore in 2012-13 to Rs 9,751crore," said Thomas Jacob, chairman of Association of Planters of Kerala.In Kerala, nearly 3.3 lakh people work in 7.1lakh hectares of small, medium and large plantations on a daily basis and the sector accounts for nearly 42 per cent of the gross state domestic product Introducing intercropping in plantations will help increase overall turnover of the plantation industry and the government can generate more returns through goods and services tax alone, according to planters."Citrus crops, rambuttan, mangosteem, jackfruit and local varieties of mangoes can be cultivated in plantations as intercrop from which employment can be increased by around 60 per cent if value addition too is taken up," Jacob said. At present, they are not allowed to grow other crops in plan tations, he said.Planters have appealed for a plantation policy and a plantation department under the industries ministry so that they get a proper forum to express their opinion."The policy should provide a roadmap and guidelines on the effective use of land, labour, weather and market , the four fundamentals driving plantations," said C Vinayaraghavan, former chairman of Association of Planters of Kerala. Jacob said, "High levels of taxation, input cost and manpower cost, and climate changes are the main reasons for high cost of production and low productivity of land, labour and capital. Unwarranted legal issues on land titles are hampering fresh investment," Jacob said. Unrestricted imports is another problem while lack of sufficient value addition has led to low price realisation, he said.As a result, replantation in crops such as rubber has stopped."Around 2,000 hectares of rubber are yet to be replanted in the state," said N Dharmaraj, former president of the United Planters' Association of Southern India.Replantation could bring in investment of Rs 1,000 crore to the state, planters said.