The South West monsoon has taken a heavy toll on Kerala's plantation sector, impacting various commodities such as tea, cardamom, pepper and coffee over the last fortnight.

Widespread damage to standing crops and pests and disease outbreak have been reported in several places.

The tea sector, according to K Mathew Abraham, Managing Director and CEO of Kanan Devan Hills Plantations Company, is anticipating a 30 per cent drop in production during June, July and August as heavy rains and wind hampered plucking in many of the gardens in Munnar.

The pre-monsoon showers in May also considerably impacted production in the region.

The situation in July is likely to be serious and the conditions are not conducive for growth. The emerging situation comes at a time when tea prices are moving southwards vis-a-vis last year. The commodity outlook in South India is also weak, as is evident in low prices in Cochin auction, which is not a good sign, he said.

Wind damage

N Dharmaraj, Chief Executive, Harrisons Malayalam Ltd told Business Line that rains and strong winds have been intense in the tea growing region of Idukki and Wayanad.

The excessive rainfall and absence of sunshine is likely to impact the crops in June and July, may be in the range of 20-25 per cent. Plucking had to be stopped for a few days in the last 10 days.

The Association of Planters of Kerala said that the monsoon crop is expected to be lower by 40 per cent, which would have an impact on annual production on account of the damages to tea bushes and shade trees.

The cardamom sector is also expecting a drop in output. The good summer rains have facilitated the sector to advance the harvest season to June as against July and August.

Cardamom replanting

For AVT tea estates, the main damage was in cardamom area due to fallen trees. It is expected that the drop in output is likely to be in the range of 25 per cent from the original anticipation due to rain damages, V Unnikrishnan, Vice President (Plantations) AVT. B K Ajith, Secretary, APK pointed out that severe damage to cardamom plants have been reported in Vandanmedu, Udumbanchola, Vandiperiyar, Peermedu areas. Nearly 30-40 per cent of yields have been affected and around 25 per cent of those hit may need to be replanted.

The coffee areas of Wayanad have also been affected and nearly 10 per cent of berries have dropped, he said.

K K Vishwanath, Coordinator of Consortium of Black Pepper Growers Association fears that rains might trigger Phytophthora, a rotting disease in pepper plantations that can bring down the output further.

Crop estimates of pepper for the next fiscal could also be hit.

Coffee board advisory

The heavy rains in Karnataka's coffee growing regions of Chikmagaluru, Hassan and Kodagu, have also triggered concerns But "it is too early to assess the impact," said H T Pramod, Chairman, Karnataka Planters Association.

The State-run Coffee Board said in an advisory the heavy rainfall is likely to result in water logging leading to wet feet conditions. The weather conditions also favour outbreak of black rot and stalk rot especially in Robusta coffee.

Therefore, all the coffee growers are advised to drain out the excess water, apply urea and spray bordeaux mixture to prevent fruit drop and rot.

(with inputs from Bengaluru Bureau)

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