CHIKMAGALUR: G.V. Krishna Rau, chairman of the Coffee Board, said on Saturday that tree cover in 1,20,000 hectares of land in the Western Ghats region had been reduced because of expansion of coffee plantations between 1980 and 2000.

Speaking on climate change at the India International Coffee Festival 2009 (ICCF) Connect, an extension of the ICCF 2009 held in Bangalore and organised by Cafe Coffee Day, Mr. Rau said the removal of the thick canopy had resulted in an increase of temperature of about four degrees Celsius.

Stating that this had caused reduction and skewed distribution of rainfall and increase in pests, he said the phenomenon was more pronounced in Karnataka when compared with Kerala and Tamil Nadu. He stressed the need to restore a healthy shade cover in coffee plantations.

Dr. Nestor Osorio, executive director of the International Coffee Organisation (ICO), who spoke on the outlook for the world coffee market, said the ICO would convene a forum to examine what kind of financial assistance could be given to the coffee sector. Expressing satisfaction over the upward trend in coffee prices in the last five years, he said this would enable coffee producers to recover their cost of production.

Pointing out that there was a balance between supply and demand in the world market at present, he said demand could exceed production in the next five years. He said global consumption of coffee had increased by 25 million bags in the past 10 years.

Asserting that co-operatives were important in establishing processing units for small coffee plantations, he called upon the coffee industry to avoid unnecessary intermediaries.

He said the next world coffee conference would be held in Guatemala in February next year.

Arnaldo Levia, president, Sinter Cafe, Costa Rica, said coffee growers in low production countries would have to give more importance to productivity and quality as they could not compete in price with large producers.

Carlos Brando, director of Pinhalinse S/A, Brazil, said availability of labour was a global problem resulting in the growth of mechanisation.

Pointing out that harvesting was the most labour intensive process, he said one mechanical harvester would replace 100 workers. Andres Castro of Ranadey Exports, Columbia, explained about the various quality levels of coffee beans. Wim Abbing, Managing Director, Probat Werke, Germany, the largest producers of coffee roasting machines in the world, spoke.

Dr. Raghuram, Joint Director of the Coffee Board, said poor soil fertility, long drought periods and aged plantations had resulted in declining productivity.

C.T. Ravi, MLA, was present. Anil Kumar Bhandari, convenor and co-ordinator of IICF 2009, welcomed the gathering.

N.K. Pradeep, president of the Karnataka Growers’ Federation, proposed a vote of thanks.

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