‘Market prices, erratic weather and increasing input costs  making coffee cultivation unviable’

New Delhi:  A delegation of coffee growers has demanded the Centre to implement schemes to revive the sector claiming that growers were facing a number of challenges including price crash, fall in production and increasing cost of production.

During a pre-budget meeting with Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, the delegation comprising members from Karnataka Growers Federation (KGF), Karnataka Planters Association (KPA) and Codagu Planters Association (CPA) discussed long-term measures to be taken up to revive the plantation sector.

The delegation comprised KGF President U.M. Theerthamallesh, Vice-President Nanda Belliappa, KPA President Shreesh Vijeyendra, CPA President M.C. Kariyappa, Pradeep Poovaiah and others. The delegation’s meeting with the Minister was facilitated by Union Minister for of Chemicals and Fertilisers D.V. Sadananda Gowda. 

Karnataka is the largest producer of coffee in the country, accounting for over two-thirds of the output, followed by Kerala. Coffee growers in both these States have been witnessing erratic weather patterns over the past 5-6 years. 

Rain fury

Heavy precipitation within a short duration has often triggered flooding and landslides in the key growing regions of Kodagu, Chikkamagalur and Wayanad. If it was parts of North Kodagu that bore the brunt of heavy rains and landslides last year, the growers in South Kodagu faced nature’s fury this year.

Demanding a debt relief package for coffee growers, the delegation said a large number of planters were in debt due to low price, increasing production cost, drop in productivity due to consecutive droughts and floods for the past few years.

The planters also urged the Union Ministers to operationalise the joint task force set up by former Union Minister Suresh Prabhu for providing relief to planters for loss caused due to landslide and natural calamity.

Status on Indian Coffee 2019 report

The meeting took note of the ‘Status on Indian Coffee 2019’ prepared by Karnataka Growers Federation that mentioned that Karnataka’s coffee production had fallen by around 40 per cent even as input costs had increased. Consistent, non-remuneration for drought, high incidence of pests and diseases, non-availability of credit and the exorbitant cost of labour had forced traditional coffee farmers to abandon their plantations, the report had said.

Coffee worth Rs. 2,200 cr. destroyed 

“During the 2019 Kharif season, the Karnataka Government declared 80 taluks of 17 districts as flood-affected. These included the three coffee-growing districts of Kodagu (three taluks), Hassan (three taluks) and Chikkamagalur (four taluks). The three districts together produce more than 70 per cent of India’s coffee. They reported crop losses between 33 and 50 per cent. Around 1,20,000 million tonnes of coffee, valued at Rs. 2,200 crore was destroyed due to flooding,” the delegation told the Minister. 

In addition to market prices and erratic weather, increase in cost of inputs like fertilisers has also caused misery among coffee farmers. Those who left coffee cultivation were being forced in many cases to sell their estates at distress prices. They usually shifted to growing and selling silver timber for meeting their immediate needs, the Minister was told. 

Reduce GST rates

The delegation demanded the removal of specific rule 7B(1), which has become a major hindrance for most small coffee growers to take up value addition. “The process involves just milling and de-husking not amounting to change in form or intrinsic nature at any stage,” Muralidhar S. Bakkaravalli, General Secretary, KGF said in a statement.

The delegation also requested the Government to reduce GST rate for fertilisers, pesticides and fungicides and maintain the fertiliser subsidy level and price in the coming financial year. They also demanded Government assistance in re-plantation, water augmentation, eco-certification and support for small growers’ collectives or co-operatives for coffee marketing.