Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications
Wednesday, Aug 31, 2005
Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications Wednesday, Aug 31, 2005 |
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Climate & Weather Agri-Biz & Commodities - Coffee Coffee output may be hit on dropping M.R. Subramani
Chennai , Aug. 30 HEAVY monsoon rains leading to dropping of coffee buds are likely to result in a lower than anticipated crop next season beginning October. The Coffee Board, in its post-blossom forecast for 2005-06 season, had projected the production to be 2.94 lakh tonnes (lt). While arabica production was estimated at 1.056 lt, that of robusta has been pegged at 1.884 lt. This is against the revised projection of 2.75 lt (1.03 lt arabica, 1.72 lt robusta) crop this season. "Coffee-growing regions such as Kodagu and Chickamagalur received heavy rains during monsoon. In south Kodagu, the rainfall was 220 inches. This has made the land soggy and has resulted in the plant developing wet feet," said Mr Bose Mandanna, former Vice-President of Coffee Board and Director of Karnataka Coffee Brokers. When the coffee plant develops wet feet, the root fails to work and does not consume nutrients and respond to sunlight. "It will be in some sort of coma," Mr Mandanna said. As a result, the buds in the coffee plant begin to drop. "We fear that the robusta crop could be badly affected. We expect a 12-15 per cent drop from the initial estimates," he said. On the other hand, Mr Mandanna said, the arabica crop had been affected by the white stem borer menace. "The attack was before the monsoon rains could lash the growing areas. After the rains, there is moisture in the plant and in the coming months, we could see a decline in the borer effect," he said. "A lot of the borer have been killed by the rains," Mr Mandanna said. This season, crop has been particularly low from initial estimates of three lt due to the stem borer attack. "This year, the Coffee Board has launched a vigorous campaign against the menace and it has also started paying off," he said. Mr Anil K. Bhandari, President, United Planters' Association of Southern India, said the white stem borer had caused severe damage to the plants. "It is not unusual for the buds to drop after the rains. But we have to wait to find out the real effect of the rains," he said. "It will take time to find out if the droppings are normal or abnormal," Mr Bhandari said. Upasi is likely to assess the crop situation around October. The Coffee Board is also likely to make its assessment around the same time. However, Mr Ramesh Rajah, President, Coffee Exporters Association of India, said the new crop could be higher compared to current year's production. "The rains could have at the most damaged about five per cent of the crop. Still, production will be higher than this year," he said.
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