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The Coffee Board will assess the damage caused by cyclone Hudhud to plantations in Andhra Pradesh and Odisha, Chairman Jawaid Akhtar has said.
The Board is currently assisting the Karnataka Government in estimating the losses caused by incessant rainfall to plantations in the key growing districts of Kodagu, Chikmagalur and Hassan.
“Araku Valley in Vishakapatnam district of Andhra and Koraput in Odisha are the new areas where we will take up the assessment of losses to plantations,” Akhtar said.
These non-traditional coffee growing regions in Andhra and Odisha came under the influence of cyclone Hudhud that wreaked havoc and caused damages in the eastern coastal districts of these States.
Coffee is grown on close to 43,000 hectares in Andhra and about 3,000 hectares in Odisha. These two States account for over 12 per cent of the country’s coffee area.
However, in terms of output, these regions totally accounted for about two per cent of the 3 lakh tonnes of coffee produced in the country.
Akhtar said the crop loss survey is jointly being taken with the local district authorities in Coorg, Chikmagalur and Hassan.
Heavy and excess rainfall during August had induced berry droppings besides triggering diseases such as leaf rot and stalk rot.
According to growers, the traditional high rainfall areas of Bhagmandala and Madikeri in Kodagu, Mudigere in Chikmagalur and Sakleshpur in Hassan have witnessed a higher than normal berry droppings this year, a trend that may influence the crop size this year.
Karnataka accounts for over two-thirds of the around three lakh tonnes of coffee produced in the country.
The Board, in its post-blossom estimates, has projected a record crop of 3.44 lakh tonnes (lt) for the new season starting October, a 13 per cent increase over last year.
Total output of Arabicas is pegged at 1.05 lt, while Robusta is forecast at 2.34 lt.
In Karnataka, the robusta output for next season is pegged at 1.67 lt, higher than last year’s 1.32 lt. The output of arabicas is forecast at 80,700 tonnes.
The Board is expected to take up the post-monsoon crop survey sometime late October-early November.
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