KATHMANDU, March 8: Over
the last couple of years, Bauddha-based Joshi Carpet Industry has been
steadily cutting production and now makes less than half the amount of
carpets it used to a few years ago.
However, this slash in output was not caused by declining overseas
orders, nor was it because of a shortage of raw materials.
The factory, which would be filled with clatter of looms and chatter of
shifts of workers around almost round the clock during the overseas
consignment seasons in the past, is now facing a deepening labor
shortage to maintain capacity.
Last year, the factory, one of the leading manufacturers and exporters
of carpet, hardly exported 4,900 square meters of hand-knotted carpet.
Just about five years ago, the company used to export 6,500 square
meters.
“We have no option but to bring down production volume even though our
regular international buyers are not reducing their demands. However,
persisting labor scarcity has hit us hard, weakening our supply
capacity,” Gopal Krishna Joshi, proprietor of the factory, says.
Amid the deepening shortage of workers, the number of workers in Joshi´s
carpet factory has plunged to around 200 from around 500 few years ago.
“Though we are offering remunerations much higher than minimum fixed by
the government for general workers, it has been very difficult to find
workers,” said Joshi, who is a former vice-president of Central Carpet
Association -- the umbrella organization of Nepali carpet producers.
Buyers from the US and Germany have been sourcing carpets from Joshi´s factory.
Joshi´s plight shows the plight of Nepali carpet producers and exporters
who are facing a crunch of workers. Other export oriented industries
such as Readymade Garment (RMG) and Pashmina industries have the same
story to tell.
Rajesh Udas, proprietor of Ami Apparel, a leading garment producer and
exporter, is also facing the same persistent crunch of skilled labor.
“Most of the garment owners like me are facing the shortage of skilled
tailors which has weakened our capacity to guarantee timely delivery of
goods to overseas importers,” Udas told Republica.
Plagued by the decade-long Maoist insurgency, followed by political
unrest, perennial power cuts and persisting labor shortage on the back
of an exodus of youth to overseas destinations, has pushed the
industrial sector to the brink of crisis.
Export oriented industries, which are more sensitive to quality and timely delivery of goods, have been affected.
Data compiled by Trade and Export Promotion Center shows that exports of
woolen carpet, RMGs and Pashmina shawls saw a double-digit decline
during the first six months of the Fiscal Year 2012/13 compared to the
earlier year´s corresponding period.
Export of woolen carpet, RMG and Pashmina dropped by 20 percent, 24.8
percent and 16 percent respectively, during the review period.
“Continued outflow of youth to overseas destinations has resulted in a
crisis of industrial worker deficit at present and the situation will
worsen in the coming days if we fail to retain workers. So, it is high
time we produced new a batch of skilled workers by imparting fresh
training for unemployed youths,” said Uday Raj Pandey, the president of
Garment Association-Nepal (GAN).
To deal with the deficit of skilled workers, GAN and the Ministry of
Commerce and Supplies (MoCS) are jointly conducting periodic trainings
to produce a fresh crop of skilled garment workers.
“We are in the process of appointing trainers to produce new skilled
worker for garments. We have already rented a training hall in the Pepsi
Cola area with the target of starting training within a month,” said
Pandey. According to him, skilled workers declined in garments factories
by over 60 percent during the last couple of years.
A two-month training program is planned to be held every three months
with 20 youths in every batch. The MoCS has committed to provide a
million rupees and GAN is funding Rs 500,000 for the training fund as
seed money.
“We are planning to stave off the problem of labor shortage in the
garment sector with both long-term and short-term plans to train workers
in batches,” added Pandey, who is also an executive member of the
Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI).
Fed up with the prolonging shortage of workers, some of the big garment
manufacturers have been outsourcing tailoring work to smaller scale
manufacturers.
The Nepali garment industry, which used to employ around 100,000 workers
during the early 2000s, is hiring 200-300 workers as most of factories
remmain closed after failing to withstand the string of adversities
including labor shortage, shrinking overseas market and power crisis,
among others.
Producers of carpet, pashmina and other exportable goods are also sharing the similar adversaries in recent days.
Amid industrial slow
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