Monthly Archives: April 2016

City gets ‘plant a tree’ message on Earth Day

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Tree plantation and workshops on saving the planet marked the World Earth Day in Bengaluru on Friday.

In Haralur, Hennur and other places, citizens planted saplings of different trees while a composting activity was held at the Bangalore Scottish School in JP Nagar where students were given demonstration on converting wet waste into compost.

Environmentalist Vijay Nishant visited MEG Centre in Ulsoor to check the status of trees that were in bad shape and treat them, going with the theme of World Earth Day, ‘Plant a tree, save a sin from Thee’.

He said: “Two trees here are suffering from fungal infection. Since it’s summer, termites start attacking the bark of trees and weakening them.”

On Saturday, the nonprofit ‘Save Kodagu’, with the support of Kodava Samaj, Lions Club Kodigehalli, Coral Waters and Rescue Roadside Vehicle Assistance, will hold a bike rally from Bengaluru to Madikeri to spread the message of conserving the environment and saving Kodagu from deforestation.

The nonprofit expects more than 200 people to take part in the rally, after which a memorandum will be submitted to the Kodagu deputy commissioner to save the forest from developmental projects.

Concern expressed

The NGO expressed concern over chopping of one lakh trees to make way for high-tension wire in Kodagu. In other programmes, the Green Path Organic Store held a ‘Bhoomi Habba’ and the Geological Society of India and the Ministry of Earth Sciences held a panel discussion on ‘Trees for the earth’, in which environmentalist Yellappa Reddy and other dignitaries took part.

source: http://www.deccanherald.com / Deccan Herald / Home> City / Bengaluru – DHNSD, April 23rd, 2016

Famous faeces: the story behind the civet-poo coffee craze

There’s a scene in the movie The Bucket List where Jack Nicholson’s billionaire character realises kopi luwak – the “fancy” coffee he insists on drinking – is made from the faeces of a cat-like creature.

“You’re shitting me?” he says. “Cats beat me to it,” his terminally ill mate replies. Both men laugh until tears stream down their faces and then his friend ticks: “laugh until I cry” off his bucket list.

Scatological jokes aside, there is a well-documented dark side to kopi luwak, which is also known as civet coffee.

In February, civet coffee plantation tours were ranked among the world’s top 10 cruel animal attractions by World Animal Protection.

“There is now a growing civet coffee plantation tourism industry in Indonesia where tourists visit caged civet cats and sample the coffee,” says a report by the University of Oxford’s Wildlife Conservation Research. “This is causing more and more civets to be caged and abused.”

Kopi luwak is made from coffee cherries that have passed through the intestines of a common palm civet (known as a luwak in Indonesia); a small, nocturnal carnivore. The enzymes break down the beans, which when roasted, create a smooth, less bitter brew, according to some coffee connoisseurs.

(Not everyone is a fan. The Washington Post’s food critic Tim Carman wrote of his experience: “Stale. Lifeless. Petrified dinosaur droppings steeped in bathtub water. I couldn’t finish it.)

World Animal Protection says that when civet droppings are collected from the wild, no cruelty is involved. Indeed the history of kopi luwak is purported to date back to the Dutch colonial era, when native coffee plantation workers were forbidden to pick coffee for their own use. They discovered undigested beans in civet droppings and created their own aromatic brew.

However in recent decades the coffee – with its irresistibly weird back story – has become a global sensation, with wild-sourced beans fetching prices of up to £2000 ($3700) a kilo.

The massive international demand and exorbitant prices led to civets being caged to increase productivity and create commercially viable quantities of civet poo.

“Caged civets are encouraged to gorge on an unbalanced diet of coffee cherries,” the World Animal Protection report says. The process has been compared to fattening geese to create foie gras but with a lot more caffeine. “Many show signs of great stress, including pacing and self-mutilation. This unnatural captivity and forced feeding results in injuries, disease and poor nutrition.”

But despite their famous faeces, little is known about the common palm civet itself, according to PhD student Peter Roberts, a lecturer in animal care in Britain. “How can we look after the species in captivity without knowing how they will behave in the wild?”

Roberts aims to collect data on the habitat use, behaviour and estimated population of civets around the village of Cipaganti in Java for the PhD he is doing at Oxford Brookes University. He hopes his research will add vital information to what is known about the ecology of the species and contribute to better animal husbandry and management policies.

However, because funding invariably goes to rare species – the civet is listed by the International Union for Conservation of Nature as a species of “least concern” – his PhD is largely self-funded. It’s been a painstaking process. A recent attempt to crowd-source 10 camera traps raised a paltry £15 in 56 days.

Meanwhile, the trade in civets is increasing dramatically in Indonesia. Civets have become a popular exotic pet in Indonesia and there has been a rise in the popularity of kopi luwak and civet coffee farms in Java and Bali.

The problem, Roberts says, is that no-one has been able to quantify what damage this trade is doing to wild populations. “More wild research is desperately needed.”

Although common palm civets are not protected in Indonesia, trade is regulated through an annual quota system. In 2016, a total of 250 common palm civets can be captured for domestic use and 225 for export from just four provinces in Indonesia.

Eko Arifyanto from the Biodiversity Conservation Agency says this is to keep the balance of the number of animals in the wild. There has not been a request for one permit this year.

However the sheer numbers of civets for sale in Javan and Balinese animal markets alone suggest this quota system is simply not being enforced. “It is difficult to know because we have very limited human resources while our coverage area is quite big,” Eko says.

When Fairfax Media visited Pasar Satria, a market in Denpasar, young civets were available for 450,000 Rupiah (about $45) each.

Author and former coffee trader Tony Wild believes he spawned a monster. Wild claims to be the first person to bring a kilogram of kopi luwak to the west in 1991, while working as a coffee director for Taylors of Harrogate. The product, with its “certain repulsive charm”, became a media sensation beyond his wildest dreams.

However two decades later, while researching his book Coffee: A Dark History, Wild learnt civets were being poached and caged all over south-east Asia and force-fed coffee cherries.

In 2013 he started the Facebook campaign Kopi Luwak: Cut the Crap. He also played a key role in a BBC investigation of animal cruelty on civet farms in Sumatra.

“I don’t think a large number of consumers have been put off by the life of the animal – kopi luwak is pretty much everywhere in Indonesia, and I think you will find probably the same in south-east Asia,” he says.

Wild does believe there is a sustainable business model in genuine wild kopi luwak.

In Gayo, for example, a famous coffee producing region at the tip of Sumatra, Anasryta has been gathering civet faeces foraged by collectors for more than 20 years. Gabah (the cleaned coffee beans) are worth 80,000 rupiah ($8) a kilogram. “You can tell the difference, which kopi luwak is from the wild and from the farm,” Anasryta says.

“The wild has a richer taste, luwak in the wild eats all kinds of stuff, skins of trees, fruits.”

However many kopi luwak producers are now savvy to the controversy around caged civets. “You will find most kopi luwak is now marketed as “genuine wild” kopi luwak,” Wild says. “There’s really only one way of telling and that is having a personal relationship with the producers and going to the plantation and even then it’s difficult to prove.”

Coffee certifiers Rainforest Alliance and UTZ Certified – the world’s leading label for sustainable coffee production – no longer certify coffee producers that use caged civets or other animals.

And in June 2015, Indonesia introduced standards for luwak coffee production, that emphasised the civets were not to be starved, harmed, scared or depressed.

“We welcome the Indonesian government recognising there is an issue, however if they truly wish to stop the suffering then all caged production of kopi luwak must be prohibited,” says World Animal Protection’s Joanna Toole. “There is no justification to take these animals from the wild and keep them in confinement for years on end to produce a luxury coffee for tourists.”

Bali Geo is a kopi luwak cafe in Ubud that opened several weeks ago.

The cafe has three civets on site, but the owners say they are for display only, and will eventually be released. “We buy our supplies from a luwak farm up in Kintamani,” says co-owner I. Nyoman Lanus.

“I understand they have about 70 luwak in cages. I know they keep them in good condition. One luwak per cage, so they won’t fight each other. They would only be fed coffee beans around three times a week. Luwak will die if they are only fed with coffee.”

Nyoman says the coffee cherries are placed in a bowl and the civet is allowed to pick the best. The rest are sold back to the coffee farmers.

“For anybody to claim they have a steady flow of wild luwak coffee is impossible,” Nyoman says. “A mixture of wild and luwak farm, that’s more likely. Like what we sell here.”

The story Famous faeces: the story behind the civet-poo coffee craze first appeared on The Sydney Morning Herald.

source: http://www.esperanceexpress.com / The Esperance Express / Home> News> Latest News / April 15th, 2016

Coffee Growers Feel the Heat

Somwarpet :

The rising temperatures and a lack of rain have caused a desperate situation for coffee growers.

According to an estimate, nearly 30 per cent of the coffee plantations received blossom showers during March and April, while the remaining 70 per cent are yet to receive the first rainfall.

This situation might have a bearing on the prices of coffee and pepper in the coming season.

Last year, the total production of coffee in the country was 3.5 lakh tonnes while the district produced around 1.6 lakh tonnes of coffee, on an area of 1.10 lakh hectares. According to sources, this year, coffee production will be reduced by at least 20 per cent, due to insufficient and delayed rain, as well as rising temperatures.

Madikeri Coffee Board deputy director Ananth Kumar said delayed rain adversely affected young coffee plants and crop this year.

He said the Coffee Board will conduct pre-monsoon surveys in the month of May every year, to ascertain the production.

He said growers should maintain shade in estates, as temperatures had risen to 32 degrees in some parts of the district, causing dryness of soil.

In some dry areas where annual rainfall is below 50 inches, young plants wilted and died, even under the shade of trees.

In Banavara, Abburkatte, Yedavare and Yedavanadu, coffee growers are worried about crops wilting and dying. Coffee grower M L Ravi from Aigoor said growers are in distress owing to falling prices of coffee, and that delayed rains have added to their woes.

He said last year 50 kg Arabica coffee sold at Rs 10,000-Rs 10,200, but now, the price had fallen to Rs 8,200.

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> States> Karnataka / by Coovercolly Indresh / April 22nd, 2016

Naidu markets Araku coffee at women’s meet

Vijayawada :

Chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu on Tuesday turned out to be a brand ambassador of Araku Valley Coffee at a national conference of tribal women sarpanches here.

He saw to it that the organic brew was served to Union rural development minister Chowdari Birender Singh, minister for tribal welfare Jual Oram and Sudarshan Bhagath, union minister of justice and social empowerment and let them taste it to their content right on the dais.

Even as the programme anchor invited Birender Singh to address, Naidu intervened with a plea to let the minister finish his last sip. The CM appealed to all the 3000-odd women sarpanches who came from 10 states to promote the organic brand of Araku coffee.

It may be recalled that Prime Minister Narendar Modi felt bowled over by the rich aroma of the Araku brew at the International Fleet Review (IFR) in Visakhapatnam in February last.

Araku coffee is India’s first tribal growers organic brand launched in the Araku valley in 2007. The brand has got high demand in the US, UK and parts of European Union nations.

Naidu informed that the coffee production in the Araku Valley was increased by 1 lakh tons to 8 lakh with an increase of coffee plantation area by 1 lakh acres.

The coffee plantations helped the tribals increase their income levels with each family receiving at least Rs 3,000 per year by raising plantations and selling the produce.

Chandrababu said 13 products of Araku Valley including coffee and pepper have received organic certificates recently.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News Home / TNN / April 19th, 2016

Delayed blossom showers, rising mercury rob coffee crop of aroma

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Bengaluru :

The unusually high temperatures and the delay in arrival of pre-monsoon or blossom showers could shrink the robusta coffee crop for the 2016-17 season, starting October.

Growers in the key regions of Coorg and Chikmagalur are concerned over the delay in pre-monsoon showers, crucial for blossoming of the coffee floral buds, and fear that it could impact robusta output by up to a fourth.

Blossom showers and subsequent backing showers are crucial for a good crop. Traditionally, the robusta and arabica areas should receive pre-monsoon showers by March 15 and April 15, respectively, for a good blossom.

“The blossom shower has been very sporadic and scanty this year and it is definitely going to affect the crop, both robusta and arabica,” said Baba PS Bedi, Chairman of the Karnataka Planters’ Association.

“Small growers, who cannot afford to take up sprinkler irrigation, are going to be hit hard,” Bedi said, adding that the planters’ association will soon urge the State government to take up cloud seeding to create artificial rain in the key growing regions.

Water crisis
Though most of the robusta area is irrigated, with growers deploying sprinklers to irrigate their estates without waiting for the blossom showers, the lack of sufficient water storage this year has turned out to be a cause for concern.

Two back-to-back droughts triggered by successive deficient monsoons have created water stress thereby affecting the availability for irrigation, Bedi added.

“The delay in blossom showers and the prevailing unusually high temperatures across all the growing regions is a real cause of worry. It will have a significant impact on the crop loss, but it is too early to quantify the impact,” said Y Raghuramulu, Director of the Balehonnur-based Central Coffee Research Institute (CCRI).

The Coffee Board is expected to take up crop assessment sometime in mid-May.

In addition, the depleting shade pattern in some areas is aggravating the problem this year, Raghuramulu added.

“The situation is terrible in South Coorg. With temperatures ruling 2-3 degrees higher than normal, there is a fear of coffee plants dying in some areas,” said N Bose Mandanna, a planter in Suntikoppa, near Madikeri. About 30 per cent of the robusta area is impacted by the delayed rainfall, he added.

“The overall situation is not comfortable. Though it has rained in some pockets, the quantum of rainfall is not sufficient. The water stress and high temperatures will affect the blossom, thereby impacting the crop,” said Nishant Gurjer, a planter in Chikmagalur.

Plants under pressure
Another factor that could affect the output this year is stressed out plants. “In the last two years, we have been picking some good crop. As a result, the plants are relatively stressed and the output could be impacted,” Gurjer added.

The Coffee Board has estimated the 2015-16 crop’s output at 3.5 lakh tonnes, a 7 per cent increase over the previous year’s 3.27 lakh tonnes.

source: http://www.thehindubusinessline.com / Businessline.com / Home> Economy> Agri Business / Vishwanath Kulkarni / Bengaluru – April 19th, 2016

Spilling the Beans of the Bitter Brew

There is a chance that Sunalini Menon is addicted to her work but there’s a compelling reason for it: she is Asia’s first woman coffee taster. Menon’s affair with Coffea Arabica and Coffea Robusta began when she was a college-going girl. No wonder, Bengaluru-based Menon, who later founded her own company Coffee Lab, likens the coffee bean to that of spreading wisdom, teaching her humbleness, perfection, passion and friendliness.

At a time when women were still trying to cement their place in the social order of things, Menon was miles ahead of the same. She completed her schooling from Good Shepherd Convent and broke the record by securing first position in BSc at the Women’s Christian College. While pursuing her master’s in Science, she got a paper published in the Indian Journal of Medical Research, a rare feat for a non-medical professional. After completing her PG, she applied for the position of a coffee taster and moved ahead in the selection rounds. Though her appointment was objected to, on the basis of her being a woman, Menon finally made it as an assistant cupper in the Coffee Board.

An unusual profession it may be, but it comes with its own set of unique challenges. “If you are a professional cupper, you need to preserve your palate and I do so by avoiding spicy food, alcohol and tobacco. I ensure that I am always in good health to be able to taste and identify the subtle nuances of coffee,” says Menon. By that same logic, ice cream too is a strict no-no for me.

There are other senses to be employed as well. Menon shares that one needs to use their eyes to see size, the degree of roast, and colour of the beans; while the sense of smell comes handy in knowing the green beans, roasted beans, coffee brew and processing of the coffee. The sense of touch helps in understanding the strain of coffee beans, while the sense of sound in measuring the right temperature —when you roast the coffee beans, they will crack or pop at certain temperatures.

Over and above, a good cupper comes equipped with an innate acuity of taste, intense training, experience and exposure to coffees from around the world, repeated calibrations of the palate with global tasters, good memory, fine concentration skills and most importantly, the ability to communicate what one has experienced in the palate.

Sunalini Menon
Sunalini Menon

Menon quit the Coffee Board in 1995, to set up her company Coffee Lab in 1997, which provides a whole range of services—right from evaluation, certification to advisory. Coffee Lab, which won the Hidden Treasure Award in 2006 by the Speciality Coffee Association of Europe (SCAE), is now developing brands for green coffee beans. “Flavours in coffee are very diverse. You could have sugar browning flavours such as chocolate, caramel, nuts, malt and vanilla; dry distillation flavours such as spices of pepper, clove, thyme; medicinal such as camphor; resinous such as black currant; or enzymatic flavours such as herbal, floral, citrus, berries, legumes etc,” elaborates Menon.

Tasting not less than 100 samples per day, Menon says: “Some coffees around the world possess very distinctive floral notes, some have blueberry flavours, some with intense citrus flavours of oranges and lemons, besides red and green apple.” She is also the proud recipient of the 2014 Alfred Peet Passionate Cup Award, conferred by the Specialty Coffee Association of America (SCAA) during their 26th annual exposition and conference at Seattle.

When asked about any coffee buying tip, she quickly replies: “One needs to look at whether the coffee is dark-roasted or medium-roasted. A medium-roasted coffee will have a balanced taste, while a dark-roasted one will have a strong mouth feel, but with bitter edges. To make the perfect blend the proportion of powder-chikri (chicory) is 70-30 and also the freshness of say an hour of the decoction is important.” But the best advice is saved for the last. “Coffee means friendship. If you have coffee with someone, you become friends with them,” concludes a smiling Menon.

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> LifeStyle> Food / by Sujitha J / April 16th, 2016

ICAR to set up planters’ home at Madikeri

Expert lays stress on diversification of crops

While agreeing with popular belief that agriculture “is risky business”, Director-General of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) S. Ayyappan said on Thursday that, however, farmers in places such as Kodagu had shown how farming could be profitable.

He was inaugurating the golden jubilee of the Cardamom Research Centre (CRC) at Kodagu, an Indian Institute of Spices Research (IISR) release here said.

The cardamom centre at Kodagu comes under the purview of the IISR. Dr. Ayyappan said the ICAR would also set up a planters’ home at Madikeri to offer training to farmers in the region.

Diversification

“Agriculture being probably one of the riskiest businesses, for it to be profitable, we have to give importance to diversification of crops and specialty agriculture,” Dr. Ayyappan, who is also the Secretary in the Department of Agricultural Research & Education (DARE), said.

He was all praise for planters for their success in spices cultivation. He said that spice plantations at Kodagu were model farms for farmers from the other States. “They have proved that farming is a profitable venture. The productivity of black pepper in these plantations is far above that of Vietnam,” he said.

He said the decision to upgrade the CRC and set up the planters’ home were New Year gifts for farmers at Kodagu.

N.K. Krishnakumar, Deputy Director-General of Horticulture, who presided, wanted the IISR and the CRC to identify pockets where cultivation of cardamom and black pepper and other profitable spices could be grown on a large scale.

M. Anandaraj, IISR Director, Amrik Singh Sidhu, Director of the Indian Institute of Horticultural Research, Bangalore; George V. Thomas, Director of the Central Plantation Crops Research Institute, Kasaragod, spoke.

Publications such as Capsule, a souvenir of the golden jubilee celebrations, Sadaram, a comprehensive publication on 50 years in cardamom research, and special issues of Spice India and Indian Journal of Arecanut, Spices and Medicinal Plants published to commemorate the golden jubilee were also released at the function.

Progressive farmers from Kodagu such as S.B. Jayaraj of Murugarajendra Estate, Madapur; B.M. Mahesh Kumar of Hosathota Estate, Sakleshpur; John Thomas Ramapuram of Doona Ann Plantations, Siddapura; C.P. Pramod of Cauvery Estate, Madikeri; Duleep Nanjappa of Pakka Estate, Madikeri, and Prema Ganesh of Prema Estate, Madikeri, were honoured by Karnataka Speaker K.G. Boppiah at the programme.
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Planters’ home to offer training to farmers

Planters lauded for success in spice cultivation

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source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Kerala / by Special Correspondent / Kozhikode – December 22nd, 2012

Aiyappa ready to act in movies

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Former Bigg Boss contestant and cricketer N C Aiyappa is ready to dabble with films as well as cricket. Aiyappa claims that he is flooded with offers in Sandalwood industry, since he was evicted out of the Bigg Boss house. In an interview to a Kannada news paper, he has said that he has heard two stories, but nothing has impressed me.

Aiyappa adds that both Pooja Gandhi and Gowthami Gowda are his good friends, we have been projected wrongly to the people, we are just good friends even now, but I have not met them since we all are busy in our own life, he said.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News Home> TV> News / TNN / April 15th, 2016

On my pinboard – Ashwini Nachappa

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Former international athlete Ashwini Nachappa was known as much for her on-field achievements as for her style quotient off it. She was the first to beat PT Usha’s 200 metres at the Open National and the International Permit meet.

An Asian silver medallist in 200 metres, she was honoured with the Arjuna Award in 1989. Ashwini believes that it is her confidence and the strong value system she grew up in that has brought out the best in her.

At present, Ashwini holds various responsibilities as the president of the Bangalore Urban District Athletics Association, vice-president of Karnataka Athletic Association and the president of Clean Sports India.

Cinema – Amitabh Bachchan

“I admire the work of Amitabh Bachchan because I don’t think anybody can ever take his place either in acting or voice. I’ve acted in about five movies and stopped after our first child was born. I like to watch comedy which could be in just about any language and prefer watching them at home. I like ‘Devadas’ for its grand setting and ‘Taare Zameen Par’ for its relevance.”

Music – Lionel Richie

“I listen to a few select tracks by Cliff Richard, Lionel Richie, Celine Dion… but all this depends on my mood. I can also never tire of listening to Lata Mangeshkar and Mohammed Rafi. Lately, I’ve have begun listening to Adele, who has sung for most of the James Bond movies. She makes some great conversation through her songs.”

Philosophy – Learning from mistakes

“I’ve learnt a great deal from the failures and mistakes. I look at everyday as a new experience. I always give my cent percent to whatever I do and I live by that philosophy. I don’t get stuck in the past or let the ‘ifs and buts’ hamper my progress.”

Author – Robin Sharma

“I never get too much time to relax with a book but whenever I do get a chance , I make it a point to read the works of Robin Sharma, ‘The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari’ being one of my favourites. I am also fond of J Krishnamurti’s books. When I was much younger, I loved reading Jeffrey Archer and Robin Cook.”

Travel – San Francisco

“I travel a lot between Coorg and Bengaluru and I occasionally fly to San Francisco to be with my older daughter. Our school Karaumbiah’s Academy of Learning and Sports (KALS) and Sports Academy- ASF in Coorg which has about 800 students takes up a lot of my time. Most of my travel happens for work purposes and I also find this as a perfect excuse to not only go home to Coorg but to get away from the maddening pace of city life.”

Cuisine – ‘Chaat’

“I am not much of a meat-eater and I am happy with my plate of vegetables. I also have a fetish for ‘Chaats’. But I think I am a good cook and make it a point to cook for my daughter and her friends whenever I go visiting in San Francisco. I make ‘Biryani’, ‘Paneer’ and ‘Chole bhature’.”

Inspiration – Parvathy Nachappa

“My mother Parvathy Nachappa is my biggest inspiration. She has struggled to bring my sister and me up. I’ve never heard her complain even once despite all the hardship. She has stood by us and seen our success and failures too. She has always taught us never bow down to anybody and to walk with our heads held high. She wants us to give our 100% to whatever we do and to have faith in God.”

(As told to Nina C George)

source: http://www.deccanherald.com / Deccan Herald / Home> Supplements> MetroLife / by Nina C. George / DHNS, Bengaluru – April 14th, 2016

A ‘coffee cure’ for adverse effects of climate change

Kozhikode:

Can the way coffee is grown offer a cure to the adverse effects of climate change? Conservation and agriculture experts in Wayanad are in the affirmative and have mooted revitalization of historic ‘shade grown coffee plantation’ system in Wayanad as the best defence against the adverse effects of climate change acutely being felt in the hill district. Wayanad is one of the four climate change hotspots in the state and listed as highly vulnerable to vagaries of weather.

The district, which is the largest coffee producer in the state – with 85,359 hectares of land under coffee and producing over 80% of the state’s coffee output- has over the years shifted from ‘shade coffee’ to intensive ‘sun coffee’ system.

“For centuries coffee used to be grown in an agro-forest eco system with coffee plants grown under a thick green canopy provided by tall shade trees,” said, director of the biodiversity programme of M S Swaminathan Research Foundation (MSSRF) N Anil Kumar. “But during the recent years the farmers have massively cleared trees from coffee plantations and started growing the crop in full sunlight with high input of agro-chemicals for getting maximum crop productivity. This has contributed to the marked changes in the unique micro- climate of the district,” he said.

It has also caused adverse environmental impact and exposed the farmers to effects of unprecedented climate change, currently witnessed in the district in the form of weakening in the early phase of the south-west monsoon precipitation, increasing polarization of daily rainfall, rising minimum temperature and increasing pest attacks.

An approach paper prepared by MSSRF said that the revival of shade grown coffee plantations would also help regulate micro climates and induce conditions favourable to the development of wildlife diversity with provisioning of healthy ecosystem services. It would also help in increasing carbon removal and promoting sustainable coffee farming. Experts say that shade grown coffee would provide enhanced income generation for farmers as it commands a premium in global markets.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News Home> City> Kozhikode / TNN / April 13th, 2016