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The government today revised downward its estimate of coffee production by four per cent to around 331,000 tonnes for this year, citing crop damage in Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Odisha due to continuous rains after a dry spell and the ‘Hud Hud’ cyclone.
In its first estimate that assessed the crop post-blossom stage, the government’s Coffee Board had projected the overall coffee output around 344,500 tonnes for 2014-15 as against the actual output of 304,500 tonnes in the previous year.
However the latest production estimate for 2014-15 covering the crop condition post-monsoon period, is higher by 8.7 per cent compared with last year’s final output figures, the Board said in its latest report. According to the Board, “Similar to the last year, after witnessing a long period of drought, coffee areas in Karnataka experienced continuous heavy monsoon.”
“The continuous showers led to soil saturation and wet feet conditions resulting in defoliation and incidences of stalk rot and black rot leading to crop losses especially in robusta variety of coffee in Karnataka,” it said. Apart from that, the ‘Hud-Hud cyclone’ in October 2014 had caused “extensive damage to coffee plants in the non-traditional areas” due to large scale uprooting of shade trees leading to downward revision of the crop estimates, it added.
Taking into account these losses, the board said it has revised downward the total coffee output to 331,000 tonnes for this year, with the arabica output at 99,600 tonnes and robusta at 231,400 tonnes.
“The total arabica production estimates has shown a decline of 5,900 tonnes while robusta declined 7,850 tonnes over the post-blossom estimates of 2014-15,” the board said. Among the key states, the coffee output in Karnataka — the country’s leading coffee growing state — has been revised downward by 5 per cent, to about 236,000 tonnes from the first estimate.
In Karnataka, Kodagu district experienced a maximum decline of 9,495 tonnes both in arabica and robusta, followed by Chikmagalur and Hassan districts. In non-traditional areas of Andhra Pradesh and Odisha, coffee production has been pegged lower by 15 per cent at 8,100 tonnes mainly on account of Hud Hud cyclone.
Similarly, in Kerala, the coffee production has been pegged at 68,225 tonnes with a marginal decline of 650 tonnes from the first estimate. “The berry development was normal and not much adverse effect on crop was reported,” the Board said. coffee production in Tamil Nadu has been revised downward to 18,125 tonnes for this year, a marginal decrease of 250 tonnes from the first estimate.
