Unseasonal rains have battered the plantation districts of Chikkakmagaluru, Kodagu, Hassan and Chamarajanagar in the last few days hampering coffee harvesting and berry drying activities while also adversely impacting fresh blossoms in the region, said the Karnataka Planters’ Association (KPA) on Wednesday.
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“Prevailing inclement weather delays drying of harvested and processed crops in drying yards leading to quality deterioration. Stalk rot and root diseases can result if the rains continue. Further, coffee blossoms that are going to be berries for the next season are also affected,’‘ said KPA chairman Mahesh Shashidhar.
The early arrival of blossom rains have affected the harvesting of coffee crop and may also cause damage to fresh blossoms, due to which the coffee growers’ community stare at a further loss of the crop, according to Mr. Shashidhar.
In view of this untoward climatic situation, KPA requested Central and State governments to provide relief to the affected plantation growers. “Banks also should take note of the damage and restructure the loan accounts and provide relief to coffee growers,’‘ he added.
Heavy rains in November and December 2022 had severely damaged standing coffee crops and coffee plants. “In those months, the growers incurred huge crop losses after berries turned black and started dropping. This led to crop quality deterioration and growers incurred a loss of more than 35%,’‘ Mr. Shashidhar said.