Kodagu's H T Mohan Kumar says that in four decades of experience as a coffee planter, he has never seen the rains inflict such huge losses on coffee plantations.
Kumar estimates that 40 per cent of the coffee crop in three districts (Chikkamagaluru, Kodagu and Hassan) were destroyed in the unseasonal rains.
He pegged the loss at Rs 900 crore.
Coffee planter Aravind Devaraj from Shanivarasanthe in Kodagu district says the rains had disrupted both the flowering stage of the crop in January and February and now, the post-harvesting process that starts in November.
“When Brazil’s coffee bean production dipped, we believed India would benefit,” Aravind says. “But I have lost 30 per cent of my crop.”
Coffee Board Chief Executive Officer and Secretary K G Jagadeesha said that 30 to 40 per cent of Arabica crop which was ready for harvest, was lost.
The state contributes 70 per cent to the country’s coffee production.
The October and November rains also saw 229.65 hectares of arecanut crop (worth about Rs 10 crore) lost in Dakshina Kannada district, according to H R Nayak, Deputy Director, Horticulture Department in Dakshina Kannada.
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