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| Coffee Board for early release of debt relief |
| BS Reporter / Chennai/ Bangalore Jan 09, 2010, 00:40 IST |
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Untimely rains damage 30-40% of Arabica crop in state
The recent heavy rains and subsequent damage to the standing coffee crops in parts of Karnataka has prompted the Coffee Board to recommend the government to announce the long-pending Coffee Debt Relief Package at the earliest.
The board, which met here last evening against the backdrop of the recent unseasonal heavy rains that caused severe damage to the standing crop in parts of Karnataka, has said more than the damage to the standing crop, the growers may be affected due to the pre-mature blossom in major growing areas.
It is estimated that nearly 30-40 per cent of the Arabica cherries and 10-20 per cent of the robusta crop have been lost following the unseasonal and widespread heavy rains between December 25th and December 30 last year, in some coffee growing regions of Karnataka including Chikmagalur, Sakaleshpur and Kodagu. Overall, an estimated 30,000 metric tonnes of coffee output is lost due to the rains.
“The widespread occurence of heavy rains in the middle of the harvest has aggravated the condition of the growers to deal with the overdue loans which have already become NPAs in several cases further choking the credit lines even for the working capital loans for the coming season,” Coffee Board said in a statement.
In view of this, it is necessary to announce the coffee debt relief package to growers who have for long been seeking a bail out package, which is under active consideration of the government, to come out of the accumulated debt burden, the board said.
The total loan owed by the coffee industry to banks is around Rs 1,700 crore. The coffee board had recommended a scheme for Rs 504 crore, while the growers had asked for Rs 1,236 crore. However, it is expected that the final package is likely to be around Rs 802 crore.
The rains have damaged standing crop, the crop harvested and that under process in the drying yards and has also affected the quality of the remaining crops to be harvested, resulting in untimely blossoms, which will impact the next year’s crop and also ripening across the region at a time when the labour shortage already posing a problem have all been discussed and analysed by the Board.
Though the damage may not be uniform across regions in terms of the quantity of crop loss, loss on account of all other damages like quality of pre-matured blossom and the impact of pest and diseases which will flare up with the pre-matured blossom presents a distressing scenario in front of the coffee growers in the affected region, the board said.
India’s coffee exports fell 22 per cent in 2009 as a crop shortage along with weak overseas demand continued to weigh. Total exports in January-December stood at 152,769 tonnes compared with 196,527 tonnes, a drop of 22.2 per cent compared to the year-ago period.
The Coffee Board, in its post-monsoon estimate, cut 2009-10 coffee production forecast to 289,600 tonnes, down 5.45 per cent or 16,700 tonnes from the previous post-blossom estimate of 306,300 tonnes.
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