Fall in output hits coffee farmers in Wayanad

A sharp fall in coffee production has hit farmers in Kerala's Wayanad district as the harvesting season is drawing to a close in the state's major coffee belt.

The prices prevailing in the market has failed to bring cheer to coffee growers due to the slump in production and high input costs.

While the post blossom estimation of the Coffee Board anticipated the yield from the region at 47,500 tonnes for Robusta and 75 tonnes of Arabica, post-monsoon estimation say they would go down to 40,300 tonnes and 25 tonnes respectively.

Heavy rains resulting in berry dropping and high incidence of afflictions such as blackrot, stalkrot and stump border have caused the output fall, especially that of Robusta.

The post-monsoon estimation of the total coffee production of Kerala "" Nelliyamapthy and parts of Travancore being the other coffee growing areas "" are also estimated to be lower by about 8000 tonnes from the post-blossom estimation, Coffee Board figures showed.

Coffee growers in Wayanad fear that the actual fall in production would be 30 to 35 per cent, higher than the Coffee Board's projections.