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A Parliamentary Standing Committee on Commerce has assured growers that issues related to marketing of coffee abroad and boosting the quality will be taken up in the Parliament.
The growers while interacting with the Parliamentary committee had sought marketing assistance for coffee promotion abroad.
Parliamentary Committee, headed by its chairman Mr Shanta Kumar, who is touring coffee growing regions of Kodagu, Hassan and Chikmagalur, said “We are listening to all their woes and demands of coffee industry in Karnataka and all issues will be taken up in the Parliament.”
In Kodagu, growers raised the issue of wild elephant menace and also demanded that the Centre provide financial assistance to construct houses for estate labourers and to provide basic needs like water connection and electricity.
The committee in Hassan visited few coffee curing and interacted with traders.
At Chikamgalur, the committee met all stakeholders of the industry at the Central Coffee Research Station, Balehonnur and later met the members of Karnataka Planter’s Association (KPA).
KPA chairman Marvin Rodrigues, KPA Scientific Committee, Nishant Gurjer and past Chairman, Sahadev Balakrishna, who met the committee members highlighted the issues facing the plantation industry and suggested introduction of farm mechanisation scheme with a budget of Rs 300 crore spread over five years.
According to Mr Rodrigues, the association has requested that CCRI with a five-year plan should take up development of new high yielding varieties of Arabica and Robusta, which are resistant to diseases and pests.
Development of indigenous equipment for different field operations should also be encouraged. “With low technology and innovative ideas many of the field operations can be mechanised locally, at low cost,” said Mr Gurjer.
Mr Balakrishna said “The XII Five Year Plan proposals submitted by us to the Ministry of Commerce/Coffee Board emphasis on re-plantation subsidies to be extended to co-operatives and corporates. Enhancement of the capex cost of replanting which has increased by 100 per cent since the start of the XI Plan.”
For water augmentation, committee was apprised of the need to enhance the rate of subsidy based on actual costs and extending the scheme to all sectors to adopt green technologies.
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