Chennai, India: VisionSpring Foundation has recently begun its collaboration with The United Planters’ Association of Southern India (UPASI) under its ongoing ‘Livelihoods in Focus’ outreach programme. The partnership will provide vision screenings and corrective eyeglasses to more than 2,00,000 tea and coffee workers and their families in Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, and Kerala by 2028, transforming these states into clear vision regions.
The ‘Livelihoods in Focus’ outreach programme is designed to boost the productivity and earning potential of tea, cocoa, coffee and artisan communities by correcting their vision through eyeglasses. The programme focuses on agricultural workers because they have many tasks that require clear sight, and their work can have an outsized impact on the economy. Evidence supports this approach, a 2018 study demonstrated that providing eyeglasses to tea garden workers increased their productivity by up to 32%1
This VisionSpring Foundation and UPASI initiative will improve the visual health of communities in the agricultural and plantation sectors, strengthening Southern India’s economy.
Around 2,00,000 tea and coffee workers in Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Karnataka will have their vision screened, many of whom suffer from uncorrected refractive errors and other vision impairments. This initiative builds upon the 3,50,000 tea and coffee workers and community members that VisionSpring Foundation has served to date.
By providing eyeglasses, agriculture workers in Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, and Kerala will see a potential increase of INR 323 crore in income.
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