Coffee and pepper growers from Kodagu, Hassan and Chikkamagaluru have suffered losses to the tune of Rs 2,500 crore following floods and landslides.
H T Pramod, president of the Karnataka Coffee Growers’ Association, told a press conference on Monday that while coffee growers had lost Rs 2,000 crore, those growing pepper had lost Rs 500 crore. Growers, on the whole, had suffered total losses to the tune of Rs 7,000 crore in the country, including Kerala.
Pramod said Kodagu, famous for its pepper, had suffered losses to the tune of 60%. He said production cost was more than revenue these days and the incessant rain had only compounded the woes of the growers.
He said 28 villages were in distress in the district and coffee cannot be grown in these places. Pramod said a team of his association would visit the districts of Kodagu, Hassan and Chikkamagaluru to assess the damage. A report will be sent to the state and central governments based on this.
Ways of mitigating the crisis would be thrashed out at a meeting of the people’s representatives from Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala with officials of the Coffee Board and the Spices Board.
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