Stem borers eat into Arabica production

CHIKMAGALUR: The production of Indian Arabica coffee has been threatened by the White Stem Borer (WSB), to such an extent that Arabica plantations are rapidly being replaced by Robusta plantations in the district. Confirming this, Nishanth R Gurjar, the new chairperson of Karnataka Planters Association (KPA), said: "Indian Arabica Malbar and Mysore nuggets are famous in the world coffee market and it still fetches premium price. But the rampant WSB menace and the increasing cost of production have forced growers to convert their Arabica plantations to Robusta coffee plantations."He added that at one point 70% of the coffee plantations in the country grew Arabica variety and 30% grew Robusta. "But now, the situation is exactly the opposite," he said.Gurjar urged the Coffee Board and the Union commerce ministry to revamp the Coffee Board and also conduct extensive research to contain WSB menace."Scientists should focus on creating coffee varieties resistant to WSB and leaf rust disease," he said and added that giving more subsidies to machines which can reduce the dependence on manual labour will be helpful.Subsidy scheme should be extended to corporate and cooperative sectors in plantations, he added.The drip irrigation equipment should also be covered under subsidy scheme, pulpers which requires very less water and produce zero pollutants should also be included in subsidized items list.The replanting subsidy should not be limited to 20 hectares and below, but should be made available to small, big and large growers including corporate and cooperative sectors.