21/01/2019 - Geography | Mainstorming

IAS Parliament 6 years

KEY POINTS

Measures for improving the productivity of Coffee

Initiatives of Coffee Board of India

· In order to educate the small coffee growers about the integrated management of the major pests and diseases, 15 mass communication programmes were conducted covering 960 small growers in different zones of traditional coffee growing areas.

· Six mass contact programmes were organized in various coffee growing regions of Traditional Areas to educate the cluster of small coffee growers on improved methods of coffee cultivation. These programmes encompassed various activities viz., collection of soil samples from individual estates, analysis of these samples and chalking out soil amelioration measures and the manurial dosage to be applied based on the soil analysis report.

· Subsidy was extended to eligible individual coffee growers irrespective of the size of the holdings inclusive of Corporate and Co-operative holdings. The unit cost considered for the purpose of the scheme is `1,75,000/- per ha. in case of Arabica and `1,25,000/- per ha. in case of Robusta.

· Support for Mechanization of Coffee Estate Operations: This scheme is aimed to provide support to coffee growers to encourage the use of farm machineries to improve productivity and efficiency in carrying out crucial farm operations in time, particularly in the context of shortage of farm labour.

· Bioassays for White Stem Borer tolerance were undertaken, to create awareness on their management, the “Mission Mode Programme” was conducted by the board.

· The technique of incorporation of specific genes from wild plants via breeding is being undertaken by the board to mitigate the effects of climate change on Coffee crop.