UN body okays fund to tackle coffee rust

The Common Fund for Commodities (CFC), an inter-governmental financial institution established by the United Nations, has approved $3 million to finance a project to tackle leaf rust (a fungal disease of coffee plant) and other diseases in coffee growing countries of India and Africa.

The total cost of the project is $4,014,313 with a CFC grant of $2,918,720 (of which $500,000 is contributed by the OPEC Fund) to which the governments of the participating countries are going to add contributions worth $1,095,593.

The project will be implemented by CABI, a non-profit organisation, and supervised by the International Coffee Organization (ICO), which has sponsored the project.

Indian Coffee Board Chairman Krishna Rau said, "India gets more than half a million dollars of the total project cost and will have to raise the remaining portion to execute the project.

The project, when completed, will lead to reduced levels of pesticide usage, and hence costs required for disease control, while also reducing risks to farmers and the environment," he added.

The CFC and CABI Africa have roped in India Coffee Board, Kenya Coffee Research Foundation, Uganda Coffee Research Institute, Institut des Sciences Agronomiques du Rwanda and Chipinge Coffee Research Station in Zimbabwe to test disease resistant materials and develop the research capacity of the institutions.

In recent years, India has seen the re-emergence of diseases such as leaf rust and anthracnose exposing coffee plants to major pests like white stem borer, especially among small holders, said Rau.

"By joining CFC project, the India Coffee Board aims to take care of small growers' interest as they comprise 98 per cent of producers accounting for 60 per cent of the total coffee production in the country," he added.

The project, which is expected to take off in January 2008, aims to develop a long-term approach to manage coffee diseases in a sustainable manner while increasing the profit margins.

Spread over five countries, the project is expected to evaluate new and existing coffee varieties and hybrids under various diseases and environments in all participating countries.

The main objective of the project is to build the capacity of institutions in coffee growing countries in order to share improved germplasm between participant African countries and India; to conduct demand-led applied research for variety evaluation that generates alternative methods for control of Coffee Leaf Rust (CLR) and other diseases; and to deliver new knowledge including CLR resistant germplasm and environmentally friendly chemicals/botanicals to coffee growers, particularly small growers.