43% of coffee plantations suffered a crop loss of more than 33% in recent calamities

Around 43 per cent of the total coffee-bearing areas of Karnataka and Kerala are reported to have been affected by the crop loss of more than 33 per cent during the calamities in the recent months.

In a written reply to Shobha Karandlaje, Member of Parliament from Udupi-Chikmagaluru, in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday, Piyush Goyal, Union Commerce and Industry Minister, said that the Coffee Board’s extension teams carried out preliminary surveys in the calamity-affected areas of Karnataka and Kerala to estimate the extent of damage to the coffee plantations due to flooding and landslides and damage to the standing coffee crop due to premature fruit drop and fungal diseases.

As per the preliminary assessment in Karnataka, out of the total bearing area of 2,26,244 hectares, an area of about 97,365 hectares has been reported to be affected by crop loss of more than 33 per cent, and an area of 620 hectares is reported to have been affected by landslides / floods.

In Kerala, an area of about 850 hectares has been reported to be affected by crop loss of more than 33 per cent and an area of about 16 hectares of coffee plantations is reported to have been affected by landslides/floods, he said.

Spices

Referring to the assessment made by the Directorate of Horticulture in Karnataka, the reply said 11,502 hectares of black pepper, 3,184 hectares of ginger, 573 hectares of turmeric, and 25,891 hectares of chilli have been severely affected in Karnataka due to heavy rain this year with an estimated crop loss of more than 33 per cent.

According to Kerala’s Department of Agriculture Development and Farmers’ Welfare, 40.23 hectares of pepper, 88.67 hectares of nutmeg, 13.25 hectares of ginger, 25.08 hectares of cardamom, and 0.56 hectares of clove suffered complete damage in the recent calamities in the region.

The reply said that the Spices Board had assisted the Karnataka Government in the assessment of the damage caused to the cardamom plantations due to heavy rains in Kodagu district. Per the report, about 1,800 hectares of cardamom plantations have been affected with a crop loss of more than 33 per cent.

Asked if the Government intends to provide some incentives and relief to coffee and spices growers to help them establish their plantation, the minister replied to the MP that relief in the form of input subsidy for agriculture crops, horticulture crops, annual plantation crops, perennial crops and sericulture is provided under the extant provisions of State Disaster Response Fund and National Disaster Response Fund when the crop loss is 33 per cent and above.

For perennial crops, the norm for assistance is ₹18,000 per hectare, the minister said in the reply.