Incessant rains over the past few weeks in the key growing regions have spelt trouble for India’s 2024-25 coffee crop starting in October. Growers fear that the excess rains that have triggered berry droppings and fungal diseases such as black root rot which may shrink the output of the crop year.

Key coffee growing districts such as Kodagu, Chikkamagaluru and Hassan have received excess and continuous rains over the past several weeks.

Rainfall was 121 per cent above normal in Chikkamagaluru during July till date at 1,101 mm against the normal of 497.7 mm. Similarly, Kodagu has received 54 per cent excess rains in July. Against a normal fo 767.3 mm, Kodagu has received 1179.5 mm till date. Hassan has received 38 per cent surplus rains in July, so far.

No let up

“There is no let up in rains. Coffee is rotting on the plants. Also, the rains have triggered berry droppings. In some areas, the crop loss would be as high as 80 per cent, while in certain areas it is about 40 per cent. We expect the crop loss to be around 60 per cent in coffee,” said HT Mohan Kumar, President of Karnataka Growers Federation (KGF), which represents the small and medium growers in the State.

“Also, rains accompanied by heavy winds have led to the uprooting of shade trees such as silver oaks and others, resulting in collateral damages to the coffee plantations,” he added. The KGF has already approached the Coffee Board and the State government seeking intervention and relief for the damages suffered by the growers.

“We have asked the Centre to consider giving relief to the growers under the NDRF for the losses suffered. As the maintenance cost of plantation crops is high, we have urged the Government to increase the quantum of relief to ₹50,000 per hectare from the current ₹18,000 hectare and also increase the slab for considering relief to 10 hectares per grower from the present 2 hectares” Mohan Kumar said.

Growers with holdings of up to 10 hectares are considered small growers in the coffee sector. About 98 per cent of the coffee growers in the country are considered small growers.

High crop losses?

A Nanda Belliappa, Chairman, Codagu Planters Association said the plantations in South Kodagu, bordering Kerala have been widely impacted. Crop losses are likely to be around as high as 40 per cent in some areas due to the impact of berry dropping and fungal diseases like root rot, he said.

Growers had also suffered from the white stem borer during April-May when the temperatures were unusually high this year. Crop setting was also impacted due to erratic pre-monsoon showers during March-May. Production of both varieties of coffee — Arabica and Robustas would be impacted due to the erratic weather, he added.

BS Jayarama, a grower in Mudigere said, the incessant rains have not only affected coffee but also other plantation crops such as pepper. Due to the continuous rains coupled with heavy winds, the growers couldn’t take up the cultural operations including application of manure and bordeaux mixture among others, which will also have an impact on the output, he said.

India produces over 3.5 lakh tonnes of coffees and Karnataka accounts for over 70 per cent of the country’s output.

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