According to the report in The Hindu, KPA Chairman, Sahadev Balakrishna rued that the coffee plantation sector is “facing shortage fertiliser, rising cost of labour, impending strain on water resources, environmental and quality concerns and a need to replant old plantations.”
Adding further he said ” “We have been going through a difficult phase with heavy unserviceable debts, rampant pests and diseases such as coffee berry borer, white stem borer and leaf rust, shortage and high cost of fertilisers and high input costs, unpredictable weather conditions; all of which have resulted in significant crop loss,”.
KPA requested the Central Government & Coffee Board with assisting in Replanting costs, Mechanization of Plantations due to labor shortage and sharing the social costs involved in Plantations.