Rain effect: Coffee planters fear crop loss

Coffee growers in Chikkamagaluru district fear a huge loss in the coffee crop as an after-effect of heavy rain coupled with gusty winds.

Due to incessant rain in the past several weeks, plantations in Gutti, Bhairapura, Moolarahalli, Balegadde, Devarunda, Makonahalli, Baluru and Koove, falling under the rural limits of the district, are widely affected by the contracting disease. Also, the raw coffee beans and leaves have withered due to strong winds.

There are still three more months for the Robusta coffee beans to be ready for harvest. However, planters doubt the survival of plants till then. There are possibilities of borer disease getting intensified once the rain recedes, they said.

Krishika Samaja President D L Ashok said the planters, who were worried by fall in prices, are now in panic. The government should come to the rescue of the planters and should declare the taluk as flood-prone, along with providing suitable compensation to the farmers, he demanded.