Unseasonal rains, early blossoms bring fresh worries among coffee growers in Karnataka

MADIKERI, FEB. 5: There is a sweet fragrance that is persistent across the estates of Kodagu and they are emerging from the blossomed coffee plants. While the fragrance and the sight of the blossoms are soothing to onlookers, it is a sign of worry to the coffee growers.

Many growers across the district have been forced to stop the coffee picking work as the plants have blossomed over two months prior to the blossoming season.

“Nearly 70% of the ripened coffee beans have been picked across my estate. However, we have now stopped the picking work as all the plants are blooming with the next year’s crop. We have to wait at least a month till we restart the cherry picking as the blossoms will take nearly a month to set in the plants,” explained Harish Madappa, a grower from South Kodagu.

He recalled his early days as a grower and explained that the coffee has been severely affected by the changing weather conditions.

The coffee-picking season normally started in January and ended before March. However, the cyclonic rains in November preponed the coffee ripening process and the coffee picking began in December. Now again, the sudden showers during the last week have resulted in the blossoming of the coffee plants.

“Earlier, after the harvest work at farmlands, we began coffee picking work. Now, hardly any farmer practices paddy cultivation on the farms due to continuous loss. Further, after the coffee picking by March, we carried out sprinkler irrigation across the estates to prepare the plants for the blossoming process for the next year’s crop. However, the change in climate has affected the entire work process in the estates,” he explained.

According to him, 95% of the growers have witnessed a downfall in the yield this year. “I have faced 35% less yield than last year,” he confirmed. With the crops blooming early this season, the next year’s yield will also suffer as these blossoms might not survive the pre-monsoon showers and the upcoming monsoons.

While several growers have received a maximum of Rs 28,000 compensation under the NDRF and SDRF scheme, they demand a revision in the compensation amount as the released fund will not help them sustain the increased losses faced by them.

“The maintenance cost has gone high and the losses are piling up with every rainfall. However, the compensation amount has remained the same for over a decade now,” he concluded.

-TNIE