Drought will affect coffee production this year

Coffee production is expected to decline in 2012-13 crop year beginning October mainly due to poor monsoon rain in traditional growing areas of Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu.

“With traditional coffee producing areas of Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu facing deficient rainfall, there is a major flare-up of white stem borer (WSB), which is severely impacting output of the next coffee year,” Karnataka Planters Association (KPA) Chairman Marvin Rodrigues said.

The severity of the damage to the crop can be analysed totally in October-November during the start of the harvest, he added. WSB is one of the most deadly pests that infects arabica coffee plantations in Asia and Africa. Its larvae bores into the plant’s stem causing death of young plants.

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The older plants may survive but their yield is drastically reduced and susceptibility to diseases increases. “That apart poor rains in November 2011-April 2012 period has also affected robusta plantations as irrigation has become a problem with depleted ground water reserves.

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The rains are important for the development of the beans and lack of it can result in smaller beans,” Rodrigues said. According to state-owned Coffee Board of India, output is pegged at 3.25 lakh tonnes in 2012-13 crop year (October- September), which includes 1.04 lakh tonnes of arabica and 2.21 lakh tonnes of robusta.

Echoing concerns, Former KPA Chairman Sahadev Balakrishnan said that almost all arabica areas are facing

resurgence of WEB and poor rains have also affected robusta estates. “Deficient rains are posing a problem in recharging of ground water reserves, rivers and springs that is leading to a problem in irrigation especially for robusta.

That apart Karnataka is facing power crisis, which again is impacting irrigation,” he pointed out. The government-run Central Coffee Research Institute (CCRI) had issued an advisory to coffee growers in July stating that a survey has indicated the incidence of WSB is more in marginal areas where the elevation is low, rainfall is less and there is not enough lower canopy of shade.

“The affected plants are showing symptoms of wilting and yellowing because of depleted soil moisture and hence more number of affected plants are being noticed/identified easily now,” it had said.CCRI had also advised the growers that in case there is deficit rain during this monsoon season the number of larvae surviving and emerging as adult beetles during the winter flight period of October-November 2012 will be more and had suggested to them to uproot the infected plants.

“Hence, if affected plants are not uprooted now, the effect will be more severe as more adults would emerge during October-November and infest more plants during the winter period,” CCRI added in its advisory.

Nishant R Gurjer a private planter from Chikmangalur area said that in Chikmangalur, the major arabica producing area in the country, about 40-50 plants per acre are affected by WSB. “Almost all the arabica variety producing areas in the country are facing WSB attack due to drought like conditions,” Gurjer added.

According to the India Meteorological Department (IMD) data, monsoon rains from June to August 8, 2012 have been deficient in North Interior Karnataka by 33 percent, South Interior Karnataka by 34 percent, Kerala by 41 percent and in Tamil Nadu by 35 percent.

A senior Coffee Board official said that the growers have been advised to uproot the plants but most of them have not followed the instructions. “We have asked them to remove the WSB infected plants but the instructions are not being followed,” the official said.

CCRI is also working on a ‘Chandragiri’ an arabica variety, which has very good foliate cover and is able to withstand WSB attack although it is not resistant to the dreaded pest, the official said. Parliamentary Standing Committee on Commerce in its report on the performance the plantation sector has asked the government to make all-out efforts for effective control of WSB, to sustain the production of arabica.

It has also suggested to the government to initiate measures to check conversion of arabica estates into robusta.

PTI