Coffee growers in distress over untimely rain

The untimely rainfall in the last one week has once again affected the coffee growers in Somwarpet.

The Arabica berries begin to ripen in September and October. But, the rain has posed a hurdle in harvesting the coffee.

The berries that were ripened in September have started withering and sprouting in the ground. Owing to the rain, the berries are left unattended.

Without sunshine, the growers are unable to dry the plucked berries as well, which in turn, will affect the quality of the coffee.

The rain has also affected the maintenance of coffee plantations. Owing to a shortage of labourers, weeds have not been removed at the plantations. The labourers are demanding Rs 160 to Rs 200 for harvesting 28 kg of coffee.

The growers said that the production cost of coffee has increased.

An arabica parchment of 50 kg is fetching Rs 13,000 in the market. However, due to the vagaries of nature, the growers are unable to reap the benefit.

Coffee is cultivated on 28,590 hectares of land in Somwarpet taluk, of which, 22,900 hectares is Arabica coffee and 5,690 hectares is Robusta coffee.