'India to become net Arabica importer soon'

India will become a net importer of Arabica coffee soon as the shift in coffee production in India from Arabica to Robusta has been dramatic, an official said on Wednesday.

“The area under Arabica shrunk from 73 per cent in 1950-51 to 49.5 per cent of the total area under coffee in 2012-13. Arabica production declined from 82 per cent in 1950-51 to 33.61 per cent in 2013-14 of total production.

“The rising cost of cultivation of Arabica due to lack of any scientific breakthrough in control of white stem borer and coffee leaf rust has been the major reason,” said former UPASI President Vijayan Rajes at the UPASI-KPA Coffee conference here in Bengaluru, delivering a presentation on ‘Future of Arabica Coffee in India’.

Vijayan, who owns MSP Plantations, Cauvery Peak Estate, Yercaud, came down heavily on the Centre for not appointing a full-time chairman for Coffee Board.

“The approach of the Ministry of Commerce is lackadaisical by not appointing a full-time chairman for the Coffee Board. Instead of looking for a solution to white-stem borer, they formed a committee to study...and the committee won’t meet because there is no chairman since six months,” Vijayan said.

The growth in productivity of Robusta from 943 kg/hectare in 1971 to 1,056 kg/hectare in 2011, in stark contrast to the reduction in productivity of Arabica from 725 kg/hectare in 1971 to 575 kg/hectare in 2011, is also an indicator of the difficulty in growing Arabica, he added.