Dip in coffee prices hits farmers

Increase in production cost due to GST, labour-charge hike comes as a double whammy

The first taste It is believed that the first coffee seeds in India were planted at the Baba Budangiri range in Karnataka in the 1600s. A Muslim saint called Baba Budan is believed to have brought the seeds from Yemen.

A steep fall in the price of Robusta coffee during the harvest season and the increase in cost of cultivation are worrying coffee farmers in the State.

The spot price of raw Robusta coffee in Wayanad market on Tuesday was ₹3,186 a bag (54 kg) as against ₹4,158 during the corresponding period last year. The price of coffee beans declined to ₹110 a kg from ₹140 during the same period last year.

“Recent reports on better coffee production in Vietnam, a major coffee producing country, this season and a bumper coffee production expected in Brazil next year owing to good rain in coffee cultivating areas in that country are the major reasons for the price fall,” says K. Salu, coffee exporter and secretary of the Kerala Coffee Processors and Dealers Association.

As per the Post Blossom Coffee Crop forecast of the Coffee Board for the 2017-18 fiscal, the Robusta coffee production in the State is placed at 66,345 tonnes, including 58,160 tonnes from Wayanad, 6,500 tonnes from the south Kerala region, and 1,775 tonnes from Nelliyampathy area. This is an increase of 5,255 tonnes (8.31%) over the previous year’s final estimate of 63,265 tonnes.

Estimates vary

However, traders expect a 10% increase in coffee production in the district this year.

But the farming sources said the production would decline by nearly 10%.

“After the sharp fall in the prices of tea, pepper, and rubber in the market, coffee has been the mainstay of farmers, especially small-scale coffee farmers in Wayanad,” says Prashanth Rajesh, president, Wayanad Coffee Growers’ Association.

“But coffee production has dipped more than 10% this season as many farmers could not irrigate their coffee plantations during the past summer owing to restrictions imposed by the government. This adversely affected berry formation,” he said.

Moreover, the huge increase in input cost, including the 5% hike in price of chemical fertilizers after the implementation of GST and a general increase in labour charges, and crop raid by wild animals put the coffee farmers in distress, Mr. Prasanth said.