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Home / Agriculture / Shade Coffee at the Altar of Sacrificeby Dr. Anand Titus and Geeta N. Pereira Page 1 | Page 2 | Page 3 | Page 4 Indian Coffee and the World MarketIndia’s share in the world coffee market is approximately 3.6%, producing about 300,000 metric tones of coffee of which 80% is exported and 20% (60,000 TONES) is consumed domestically. The State of Karnataka produces 70% of India's production. If one were to study the Indian coffee market, then a very startling picture emerges. The Industry is not based on sound fundamentals or technicalities. Hither to, it completely relied on the misfortune of the Brazilian coffee. Any sign of frost in Brazil and prices of beans would touch unrealistic levels in India. Many a times the domestic price is much more than the International price.
Coffee Industry StatusThe Indian coffee industry is a 180 year old industry. The Coffee Industry comes under the Ministry of Commerce which is generally associated with the country’s exports and imports. The Ministry as such has a faint idea with regards to the scale and economics of growing coffee and the problems associated with the bean. For an outsider, to get a better insight of the Industry, the marketing policy is controlled by the Centre, but the land tenure comes under the State subject. Caught between the State and the Central Government, coffee is neither accorded agri-status nor Industry status. This creates a problem for credit flow as well as the coffee planter has to borrow money at a higher cost which reflects in his balance sheet. This peculiar problem can be overcome by creating a separate entity clubbing both coffee and tea into one plantation Ministry. The Coffee Board created by the Ministry of Commerce is headed by an I.A.S. officer, instead of the grower’s representative. Moreover, the Chairman or Chairperson ‘s tenure is for a period of three to five years and every time a new appointee takes over he or she has to start from the bottom upwards. Precious time is lost and the grower is the one who bears the brunt of the policy decisions. Next to oil, coffee is the largest traded commodity in the world. Especially, when it comes to coffee cultivation, the growing of coffee is restricted to third world countries or the developing world. Coffee is perennial, Eco-friendly in nature and labor intensive crop. It takes about 8 years for economic yield in case of Arabica and 10-12 years in Robusta. Around 250,000 growers are in the business of Coffee cultivation and 98% of these are small growers; holding less than 10 hectares. The coffee cultivation involves labor to the tune of 70 %. Hence, it is a highly labor oriented industry. 70% of cost of production is wages to workers. About 1,500,000 families are directly dependent on the industry as a means of livelihood. The workers are mainly from the lowest strata of the society. As such coffee farmers provide employment to the unskilled Rural Population. Forest EcologyIndian Coffee is grown on one of the most sensitive hotspots in the world, called the WESTERNGHATS, which is a treasure house for flora, fauna and Biodiversity. Basically, Indian Coffee Plantations grow shade grown coffee in 400,000 hectares of land under the canopy of a three-tier shade system. On an acre of land 300 - 350 shade trees are grown. The Govt. of India and the State Government spend huge sums to develop forests, but growers are voluntarily growing man made forests, since hundreds of years. The Government should divert the huge sum invested for the development of forest towards growers who are sustaining it. The crash in Coffee Prices may lead to rampant cutting of trees in plantation by all growers for sustaining and for their survival. Also, coffee farmers are guardians to thousands of acres of forests by protecting its biodiversity.
Sustainable and Ecofriendly SystemsBy and large, Indian Coffee is associated with forest grown coffee. Mechanization is to a bare minimum and when one visits the plantation one can see trees haphazardly arranged. The soil is virgin and no serious effort is made to mechanize the plantation for the sole purpose of retaining the sustainable eco-friendly systems.
Page 1 | Page 2 | Page 3 | Page 4 Tags: shade grown arabica robusta production debt |
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