Comments
Fly picking (plucking berries that ripen early) has commenced in lower reaches or dry belts in the coffee growing regions in South India.
Picking in higher elevation areas are to commence later in the next 15-20 days.
“Fly picking of coffee has begun in Suntikoppa, Madapur and Chettali in Kodagu, after a bout of heavy rains last week,” said Bose Mandanna, senior coffee planter from Suntikoppa, Kodagu.
“Currently, we are experiencing bright sun which is favourable for coffee picking. But we are scared over the weather conditions for the next 15 to 20 days,” he added.
This year, extended cloud seeding activity carried out by the Karnataka Government to increase inflow into Cauvery basin, has partially affected coffee picking activities in the catchment areas in Kodagu.
“Parts of Mudigere, Sakleshpur in Chikmagalur have become conducive for fly picking,” said Nishant R Gurjer, Chairman, Karnataka Planters’ Association (KPA).
According to Vijayan P. Rajes, Chairman of UPASI Coffee Committee, “Growers waited for the cyclone Nilam to cross over. Now with dry days, fly picking has commenced in all lower elevation in Tamil Nadu.”
Normally about 10 per cent of the coffee is picked during fly picking. Later in the main round of picking carried out during December / January, 50-60 per cent of the harvest is done and finally in the stripping phase the balance is harvested this is done around February.
“Regular harvest of arabica will start during the first week of December and robusta some time mid-December,” he added.
Coffee estimate
A senior Coffee Board official said, “Post-monsoon crop estimate for crop year 2012-13 is delayed a bit and it is expected sometime mid-December.”
As for the 2012-13 coffee production estimates, the Karnataka Planters’ Association (KPA) has maintained it at 80,000-85,000 tonnes of arabica and around 210,000 tonnes of robusta.
“We will stick to it. At the end of December we will get a clear picture,” said Gurjer.
Comments
Comments
Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.
We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of TheHindu Businessline and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.