Untimely rain worries coffee growers

The coffee beans in one of the plantations at Kanur in southern Kodagu are still green, but the branches are already covered with snow-white flowers while the plantation is filled with the fragrance.

‘Won’t sustain’

The worry among the growers is that the flowers are of no use since they won’t sustain. The plantations at Kutta, Nalkeri, Balele, Mallur, Jagale and Kottageri have already got good number of flowers.

Usually the coffee plants blossom in February. The coffee harvest ends by January and if there would be no rains, the growers need to irrigate the plantations by February. Once the plants get water, they get more flowers. These flowers sustain resulting in good yield.

But the flowers blossomed as a result of untimely rains do not bear fruits. In the meantime, they harm the next year’s yield too. Agriculture in India is said to be gambling with monsoons, which has become true in case of the coffee and paddy growers of the region. The region is getting frequent rains, which is also an obstacle for farming. The rains in December is totally unexpected, which is harming even paddy apart from coffee and other crops.

“If the ripen coffee beans get rains, they get spoiled, and the efforts of the farmers will be totally in vain,” said Alemengada Bose Mandanna, the president of Gonikoppal RMC.