We all enjoy sipping hot coffee during the cold weather and do not mind spending as high as Rs 200-400 for a cup of coffee in a restaurant or a coffee house, but have we ever thought of the farmers producing coffee beans for our delightful cuppa? Not really. One should be aware then, of the fact that the farmers of the largest coffee-producing state of the country, Karnataka, are so troubled with the rising input costs, decreasing profits and climate change that they are either resorting to sell off the plantations or committing suicide.

The price for raw beans has plummeted to its lowest in 26 years in India. This has posed a serious threat to the livelihood of 1.5 lakh coffee producers of Karnataka and other 15 lakh people associated with coffee production. A report of Karnataka Growers Federation states that in the last decade (2001-2011), 150 coffee farmers in the state had committed suicide.

In 1994, the price of a kg of raw Arabica coffee was 147.87 US cents (Rs 103.50) in the international markets, which currently is 100.07 US cents (Rs 70). Similarly, Robusta sold for 119.46 US cents (Rs 83.62) in 1994 and currently for 73.98 US cents (Rs 51.78).

Arabica and Robusta are the coffee varieties chiefly cultivated in India and favoured worldwide. However, the fall in the prices for both has caused distress to the coffee farmers in India and abroad.

“Today, a coffee farmer is barely able to get even one-third of the price one used to get eight years ago. The farmers aren’t even able to recover their input costs whereas prices of a cup of coffee had been on a steady rise in the restaurants. Unable to secure a fair price, smaller coffee farmers are pulling out of coffee production. The urban coffee lover may not be aware of the coffee farmers’ plight,” said agricultural expert Devinder Sharma.

“If the government bails the industrialists out of Rs 80,000 crores dues, why can’t it then pardon the Rs 8,000 crore of the coffee farmers?” asked Sharma.

A cup of coffee, for which we spent Rs 200-400, how much of that really goes to the farmer? As per the July 2019 report of the Financial Times, if we spent Rs 200 for a cup of coffee in a restaurant or a coffeehouse, a farmer gets less than a rupee.

Jabir Ashgar, 58, is a small coffee producer from Madikeri in Karnataka’s Kodagu district. Till 2017, he cultivated coffee over 350 acres, but since 2018, he began cultivating it only over 200 acres. “I can’t give up this work. We have been doing coffee production for the past three generations. Most of the plantations were on lease which I have been giving away slowly. Sometimes it rains, sometimes it doesn’t. We even face acute labour shortage as most of the labour force has moved elsewhere,” informed Ashgar over phone.

As per the Coffee Board of India, the country has a total of 2,20,885 small and medium-level coffee producing farmers out of which more than 1.5 lakh are in Karnataka and 90% of these are small-scale farmers.

In December 2019, the Karnataka Growers’ Federation had issued its report ‘Coffee States 2019’ which had noted a 40% fall in state’s coffee production due to drought, excessive rain and lack of labour force. While in 2002, 2005, 2008 and 2016, the state’s farmers suffered drought, the excessive rains ruined the crops of coffee plantations in 2006, 2007, 2008, 2018 and 2019.

During the Kharif season 2019, the Karnataka government had declared 80 talukas across 17 districts as flood-affected. Out of these, three-coffee producing districts-Kodagu (3 talukas), Hasan (3 talukas) and Chikmangalur (4 talukas) produce 70% of the state’s total coffee output.

As per the report of Karnataka Grower’s Federation, these three flood-affected districts suffered a loss of 1,20,000 million tonnes (33-50%) coffee worth about Rs 2,200 crore. The excessive rains of 2006, 2007, 2008, 2018 and 2019 brought about various plant diseases to coffee plants, which spoiled 30-80% plants.

“The weather has ruined us. The year we miss drought, it rains so heavily that it spoils the crop. Lately, pest menace has risen — no matter how much pesticide we spray, it’s of hardly any use. The yield is on a decline,” Ashgar lamented.

Although the coffee acreage in Karnataka had increased between 2000 and 2008, the overall yield had fallen by about 3%. During 2008- 2018, the situation worsened with the overall yield dropping by 39% besides the shrinking in its acreage by 0.6%. The drop in yield had a direct impact upon the coffee producers.

UM Tirthamallesh from the Karnataka Growers Federation informed Rural Connection over the phone: “Coffee producers are debt-ridden and are not able to look after their plantations well. So, they are selling off their plantations. Their children’s education and future is in jeopardy. The entire industry supports about 25 lakh farmers, out of which 1.5 lakh are coffee producers. Coffee farmers are suffering consistent losses. The labour force is moving away as it doesn’t consider the sector secure anymore.”

The state’s coffee plantations are in need of over 80,000 labourers. Due to the fall in production, the income of the labourers is also adversely affected, so they are leaving for other places.

When asked about the plight of coffee farmers, Tirthamallesh said: “Karnataka’s coffee producers have an outstanding debt of Rs 8,000 crore, the government must waive it off. Besides, the government also needs to include coffee in the BPL (below poverty line) ration quota as well as that of the defence services. Several coffee-producing countries like Vietnam and Brazil provide loans at low-interest rates, but in India, it is 12%. The central government must intervene to bring it down to 3%.”

The woes of the farmers have exacerbated due to the escalating input costs besides fall in market price and the erratic weather conditions. The input costs have risen by 2.6% in the past eight years. DAP, Urea, Potash, rock phosphate, suphala used to cost Rs 1,560 per sack in 2011, which is Rs 4,030 presently.

Fertilizers like potassium chloride used to cost Rs 250 in 2011 and now at Rs 945 a sack. Potash is the most essential fertilizer for the coffee plants. Similarly, DAP was Rs 500 a sack in 2011 and is now Rs 1,440 a bag. Although the cost of urea had gone down by Rs 15, suphala has increased from Rs 290 a bag to Rs 1,030 a bag.

Dr GS Mahabala, a member of the Coffee Board of India informed Rural Connection over the phone: “As a relief measure, we are about to offer compensation to the farmers. All those farmers, whose crops have been ruined due to excessive rains, shall be identified by March. The Board is deliberating its future course of action so as to shield the farmers from losses.”

At the same time, former member of the coffee board, Dr Pradip NK cautioned: “The farmers that have stopped coffee cultivation are selling off their land and looking towards other avenues of livelihood. The coffee industry is suffering a major economic crisis. This is the time when the state, as well as the central government, should take the necessary steps or else the coffee industry will be left with a few players.”

Coffee contributes richly to the GDP (gross domestic product) of the state as well as the nation. Coffee forms 4% of the state’s GDP. It is also a major source of foreign exchange to India. During 2017-18, coffee export fetched Rs 6,165 crore to the country.

As per an estimate of the International Coffee Organization, 25 million farmers across 60 nations grow coffee and out of these, 90% are small producers which are compelled to sell their yield bellow their input cost. Due to this, many of them are debt-ridden and are forced to exit the industry.