Coffee Board of India on Thursday hinted that coffee production for 2024-25 may be significantly lower as there has been considerable loss of plants and berries due to high temperatures, heavy rains and landslides in coffee heartlands.
‘’There is considerable loss due to high temperatures during April and May and heavy rains in July and August. A lot of damage to plants and plantations reported in most key coffee growing areas,’‘ K.G. Jagadeesha, CEO, Coffee Board told The Hindu.
Karnataka accounts for 70% of the country’s total coffee production, while Kerala is the second-largest producer with a contribution of 23%. However, in Wayanad, over 200 acres of land under coffee cultivation has been washed away in the recent landslide, also significantly impacting this year’s production.
Mr. Jagadeesha also said the board has written to coffee growing districts asking them to constitute inter disciplinary teams for conducting a comprehensive survey of plantations to assess losses within a month.
Karnataka Planters’ Association Chairman K.G Rajeev said the planters’ body has estimated a minimum yield loss of 15 to 20% in the key coffee belt comprising Chikmagalur, Hassan and Coorg districts. However, the actual damage would be much higher and could be ascertained only after a month, he said.
‘’We had a prolonged drought of 120 days. In April-May, we saw scorching of blossom clusters, fruit burn when they were in pin head size and temperatures soaring high. Then, in July we received 35 inches of rain, of the 62 inches we received so far since January,’‘ he explained.
All these resulted in berry dropping, stalk rot, wet foot (due to flooding), huge plant and plantations losses due to landslides in Sakleshpur and other areas, added Rajeev who is also a Senior General Manager (Diversification), at Tata Consumer Products.
India produced around 3.6 lakh metric tonnes of green coffee in 2023–24 crop year.
