While south India is known for its coffee-growing belts and excellent coffee beans, the indiscriminate use of pesticides and fertilizers has led to the soil developing fatigue and farmers not getting the results they seek, said Minister of Commerce and Industry Nirmala Sitharaman on Friday.
She was speaking at the launch of the Coffee Board of India’s ‘soil health cards’ for registered coffee growers in Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu. “With the over exploitation of land, the soil started rebelling. Farmers did not know what to do,” said Ms. Sitharaman.
The Central Coffee Research Institute under the Coffee Board of India, in the last six months, collected soil samples from coffee growing belts of the three States, along with their GPS coordinates, which were analysed by the National Bureau of Soil Survey and Land Use planning, Bengaluru. Based on the data, soil health cards were prepared for each grower giving the micronutrient quality of their land.
The soil health card system is the first step in addressing the damage. It shows nutrient status of the soil in a particular area, including fertility and presence of micronutrients like organic carbon, potassium, phosphorous, calcium, magnesium, zinc, etc.
A status report released by the Coffee Board on Friday showed that acidity of soil was a growing concern, with 52% of the samples analysed testing for strong acid reaction. About 60% of the soils tested for high levels of potassium. More than 50% tested for high to very high levels of phosphorous, which indicated that regular applications of phosphatic fertilizers had led to build up of the nutrient in coffee-growing soils.
An online database developed by the Indian Institute of Information Technology and Management, Kerala, (IIITM-K) is available in Kannada, Malayalam, Tamil, and English. “The information obtained on soil quality of each grower was developed into an online database with individualised recommendations for each grower,” said Ajith Kumar R., assistant professor, IIITM-K.
Gourmet Kodagu coffee?
Ms. Sitharaman called upon growers from traditional coffee growing belts to market and create a brand for their produce. “If Araku coffee can be sold as premium coffee in outlets in Paris, why can’t the same be done for Kodagu coffee or Wayanad coffee?” she asked.
Growers from Araku Valley in Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh, are recent entrants into coffee production compared to plantations in traditional coffee belts of Kerala and Karnataka.
She was speaking at the launch of the Coffee Board of India’s ‘soil health cards’ for registered coffee growers in Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu. “With the over exploitation of land, the soil started rebelling. Farmers did not know what to do,” said Ms. Sitharaman.
The Central Coffee Research Institute under the Coffee Board of India, in the last six months, collected soil samples from coffee growing belts of the three States, along with their GPS coordinates, which were analysed by the National Bureau of Soil Survey and Land Use planning, Bengaluru. Based on the data, soil health cards were prepared for each grower giving the micronutrient quality of their land.
The soil health card system is the first step in addressing the damage. It shows nutrient status of the soil in a particular area, including fertility and presence of micronutrients like organic carbon, potassium, phosphorous, calcium, magnesium, zinc, etc.
A status report released by the Coffee Board on Friday showed that acidity of soil was a growing concern, with 52% of the samples analysed testing for strong acid reaction. About 60% of the soils tested for high levels of potassium. More than 50% tested for high to very high levels of phosphorous, which indicated that regular applications of phosphatic fertilizers had led to build up of the nutrient in coffee-growing soils.
An online database developed by the Indian Institute of Information Technology and Management, Kerala, (IIITM-K) is available in Kannada, Malayalam, Tamil, and English. “The information obtained on soil quality of each grower was developed into an online database with individualised recommendations for each grower,” said Ajith Kumar R., assistant professor, IIITM-K.
Gourmet Kodagu coffee?
Ms. Sitharaman called upon growers from traditional coffee growing belts to market and create a brand for their produce. “If Araku coffee can be sold as premium coffee in outlets in Paris, why can’t the same be done for Kodagu coffee or Wayanad coffee?” she asked.
Growers from Araku Valley in Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh, are recent entrants into coffee production compared to plantations in traditional coffee belts of Kerala and Karnataka.