Kodaikanal :
Kodaikanal, the princess of hill stations, is witnessing a steep decrease in the production of coffee beans lately, as area under cultivation has dwindled drastically.
Unlike Coorg district in Karnataka, where coffee is produced on large acres of land, planters’ representatives from Kodaikanal say that coffee planters here cultivate on a small scale.
Lack of promotion by the government, absence of coffee manufacturing factories and labour shortage are affecting the cultivation, planters say. A portion of the land is being diverted to real estate.
“Palani hills, which forms a part of Kodaikanal, is separated into three segments; upper, middle and lower. From the 1970s, coffee has been widely planted by farmers in the entire hills apart from upper Palani Hills.
When the mountain banana variety which was widely cultivated in these hills was attacked by a disease, they switched over to coffee plantation,” says 68-year-old Minoo Avari, president of Mya Palanimalai Farmers Association. Shekar Nagarajan, a coffee planter from lower Palani Hills said, “In a survey conducted by the government in the 1970s it was found that coffee was being grown on 14,000 acres of land. After that, no survey has been conducted .
At present, it is estimated that only 7,000 acres of land are being used for coffee plantation. The total production of coffee has also reduced by half. Initially we produced around 7,000 tonnes a year, but this has now come down to 3,500 tonnes,” Nagarajan said.
Though there have been several drawbacks, planters say their coffee beans won awards during an event which was held in Trieste, Italy, five years ago.
Planters claim that high altitude, fertile soil and organic farming methods are the key to the quality of the coffee they produce.
The coffee planters here also claim that the taste of coffee beans produced using organic method is on par with Colombian coffee, which is considered among the best in the world.
source: http://www.articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Chennai> Planters / by V. Devanathan, TNN / October 28th, 2013
