Bitter truth: Cocoa growers experience losses

Owing to heavy rain that has affected certain crops in the Kodagu region, cocoa plants have been infested with a pest. Almost 75 per cent of the cocoa plantations have been lost, as a consequence.

Cocoa plants are interspersed between coconut and arecanut plantations in the Malnad and coastal regions. Cocoa brings good profits for farmers during the rainy season, just after the areca harvest has been completed.

The price of raw cocoa beans is Rs 40 per kg. But there is not enough yield this time, despite the good price it can fetch. Thanks to the pest, the cocoa beans turn dark in colour, the leaves turn yellow, and then wither away.

Farmer Lainkaje Krishna Bhat of Arekallu village in Madikeri taluk, who had nearly two quintals of cocoa per week during the last rainy season, now has only fifty kg of yield. There are several such farmers in the region facing the same problem.

The pest spreads because of heavy rain and moisture. Puttur’s cocoa farmer Kedali Krishnamurthy points out that once cocoa plants are infested with this pest, it becomes difficult to salvage the crop.