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Coffee Board eyes 80% replantation

India has managed to achieve only 50 percent of its annual target of covering 5,000 hectares of plantation area so far

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T E Narasimhan Bangalore
The Coffee Board has said it is set to achieve 80 per cent of its replantation target set by the 12th Five Year Plan, even while it faces challenges in meeting this year's annual target of covering 5,000 hectares of plantation area by the year-end . 

Speaking at the sidelines of a conference in Bangalore, the Chairman of Coffee Board, M K Shanmuga Sundaram said that only 50 percent of the yearly target has been achieved so far.

Y Raghuramulu, director of research at the Coffee Board, attributed the shortage in production to a dominating presence of small plantation farmers who face difficulties in re-planting in mass scale. At present, small farmers hold up to 25 acres of plantation area.
 

Regarding subsidies, Raghuramulu said that the challenges faced by the plantations were not because of inadequate subsidy allowance, but they were a result of the difficulties faced by small farmers in large scale production.       

Coffee Board eyes 80% replantation
At present, plantations receive a 40 per cent subsidy from the government.

However, Chairman of Karnataka Planters Association (KPA),Baba P S Bedi, says that out of the total subsidy amount of Rs 93 crore allocated for re-plantation during 2016-17, only Rs 35 crore was released despite receiving over 70 crore applications.    

Bedi had urged the Ministry to expedite the release of the remaining amount, but the Board sidelined his request saying that the problem lies in awareness, adding that the initiatives taken by the Board to create awareness have already started yielding results.

Raghuramalu, however, added that re-plantation levels have already increased to 70 per cent from 50 per cent this year.

The Board is also trying to go beyond traditional areas as part of its de-risking strategy.Raghuramalu said already the Board has identified around 15,000 hectares within Tamil Nadu, besides starting a pilot project in Himachal and Darjeeling, where the initial responses have been encouraging.

At present, 70 per cent of the coffee is cultivated in Karnataka alone.

"We are certainly hopeful of Darjeeling. Even in Himachal Pradesh a survey has been done. Pilot (studies have been) done in 50 locations. Growth has been good so far," he said

India's coffee production for 2016-17 is estimated at around 3.20 lakh million tonnes, which is 8 per cent lower than its final estimate of 3.48 lakh MT in 2015-16.

According to the 12th Five Year Plan, a target of around 3.5 lakh tonnes was set for the coffee plantations, which was almost achieved last year with an yield of 3.48 lakh tonnes. The Board, however, hopes to achieve this target this year.

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First Published: Oct 15 2016 | 12:39 AM IST

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