The Hindu Business Line : Coffee seen hit by pre-monsoon failure

THE erratic or near-failure of pre-monsoon showers this year is expected to affect the output of coffee and other plantation commodities such as pepper.

Coffee growers say the situation is worse this year compared to last year, when the pre-monsoon showers were somewhat better but the subsequent rains failed.

The pre-monsoon showers, better known as `blossom showers' in coffee sector parlance, are crucial for flowering and seed formation.

"Coffee is almost drying," said Mr Cherian Philip, Chairman, Karnataka Planters Association.

"Even if its rains now, the crop may not recover and reach full potential, as the damage has already been done".

While some pockets of Coorg and Chikmagalur have received good blossom showers, the overall situation is bad because of the dry spells over the last few weeks, he added.

Mr Philip said the situation could get worse if the dry spell continued. Several areas in Chikmagalur have received only two inches of rainfall as against the usual 10-12 inches.

The exact estimate of crop loss was not available immediately as the Coffee Board is yet to come out with figures. Besides, Coffee Board sources were not available for comment.

But growers say the production could be hit by about 10 per cent as compared to the current season. Output for the 2002-03 season (October-September) has been projected at 2.75 lakh tonnes down from 3.06 lakh tonnes the previous season.

"The blossom showers, which typically arrive during March-end and early April, were not adequate this year to have comfortable blossom," said Mr M.G. Dattatreya, a coffee grower in Chikmagalur.

The gap between the blossom showers and the follow-up rains was more than four weeks (usually, it is two weeks).

This has impacted the flowering and subsequent seed formation, he said.

With prices ruling at 30-year lows, coffee growers have no enthusiasm to take care of plantations.

In the heydays when prices were good, growers spent lot of money on sprinkler irrigation, to offset the damage caused by any absence of blossom showers, Mr Dattatreya said.

However, faced with increasing power tariffs and depleting ground water tables, they are no longer in a position to afford sprinkler irrigation. "Even if someone goes in for irrigation, they are not hopeful of cost recovery."

Mr Venkatesh, a grower from Chikmagalur, said: "Timely rains spread over 3-4 months since March-end are crucial for crops like coffee."

For the last two years, the pre-monsoon showers, which add to the growth of the crop after blossom showers, have been erratic and the situation this year is worse, he added.

The drought-like situation has compounded the woes of growers further as the problem of stem-borers, which aggravates with dryness, has become rampant in several areas of Chikmagalur and Hassan this year.

"Growers are not in a position to take care of their plantations properly," he said.

According to Mr Philip, pepper crop for next year would also be impacted as the main growing regions in Kerala and Karnataka have seen dry spells over the last few weeks.

Pepper is normally grown as an intercrop with coffee in Kodagu and Chikmagalur.

Meanwhile, the Minister of State for Commerce, Mr Vidyasagar Rao, is said to be touring the coffee growing areas of Kodagu in order to take stock of the situation.

He is expected to attend the first meeting of the newly constructed board and interact with exporters on Tuesday in Bangalore.

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