Coffee-growing regions in Karnataka, the largest producing State which accounts for about 70 per cent of the country’s output, are likely to receive timely pre-monsoon showers this year after almost 3-4 years.

The pre-monsoon showers during March-April, popularly called blossom showers, are crucial for triggering the flowering of coffee plants. Subsequent showers after a fortnight, called backing showers are considered important for the crop setting. In the absence of pre-monsoon showers, coffee growers, tend to use large sprinkler systems to irrigate their plantations to trigger the blossoms.

Over the last couple of years, these coffee-growing regions had witnessed unseasonal rains as early as December-January-February, impacting not only the harvest but also triggering early blossom, thereby resulting in uneven crop set.

Stress period

After the completion of the harvest, coffee plants need to face some stress before they start blossoming for the next season. The stress period for arabica plants is about three months, while for robusta it is 1.5-2 months, growers said. Any unseasonal rains during this stress period triggers early blossom, thereby hurting the crop prospects.

This year, parts of Kodagu, Chikkamagalur and Hassan districts have been receiving showers over the past 8-10 days. Also, more rain is expected in these regions, which has raised expectations among the growers of a good crop for the 2022-23 crop year starting October.

“After three-four years we have received the rains at the right time this year. Most of the coffee blossom has come out and is also looking good now,” said N Ramanathan, Chairman of Karnataka Planters Association (KPA), the apex growers body in the State. The mid-March-April rains are perfect for both robusta and arabica, he said.

The Chikmagalur region has got good rains, say about three inches in the last 10 days. However, showers are not uniform across all growing regions as some pockets have not received rains, Ramanathan said.

N Bose Mandanna, a large grower in Suntikoppa, said while the rains have started at an ideal time this year, some areas in Kodagu have, so far, received insufficient showers. “By and large about 70-75 per cent of the growers are happy with the rains so far, while 15 per cent are sad that they haven’t received any rains and the remaining 10 per cent are okay with the small amount of rains,” he said.

Robusta fares better

While Arabica growing areas have witnessed insufficient rains in Kodagu, Robusta plantations are covered well by the farmers and the rains. “Farmers have taken care of plantations well as the prices are good. Also, there were no rains in January-February like in the previous years. As a result, farmers were prepared to start sprinkling. Those who had water have covered their areas as the water availability was good due to last year’s monsoon. Moreover, planters have taken care to build water resources which is helping them,” Mandanna said.

Jeffrey Rebello, Vice President, UPASI and a grower based in Sakleshpur said some parts of Hassan and Chikkamagalur have received rains and more rains were expected in the coming days. “There is lot of variation in the rainfall from area to area and within a place,” he said.

For the current coffee year 2021-22 ending September, the Coffee Board, in its post-monsoon estimates, pegged the crop size at 3.48 lakh tonnes, including 2.49 lakh tonnes of Robusta and 99,000 tonnes of Arabicas.

Related Topics
comment COMMENT NOW