The Coffee Board has formulated the Eleventh Plan schemes and submitted to the Union government for approval. The schemes were prepared to address key problems in the coffee sector, said Coffee Board chairman GV Krishna Rau. In his keynote address at the 49th annual conference of Karnataka Planters? Association (KPA), Rau said the schemes include support for replantation to all categories of growers of Arabica and Robusta. The schemes would also include enhanced support for water augmentation, quality upgradation, infrastructure and pollution abatement and continuation of interest subsidy on working capital loans with appropriate improvement.
Other facilities include rainfall insurance, support for coffee processing, incentive for exports to far off markets, focused initiatives for coffee development in non-traditional areas and North East Region, technology upgradation for improving productivity and focused generic promotion to boost domestic coffee consumption. He also said the rainfall insurance scheme for coffee growers (RISC) was implemented by the Agricultural Insurance Company of India Ltd in Karnataka and Kerala for the monsoon season during May 2007, in which about 12, 000 growers purchased the insurance cover for about 9, 000 hectares of robusta and 16, 000 hectares of Arabica in Karnataka. Out of the total 23 zones in Karnataka covered under the insurance programme, he said 12 zones have become eligible for payout from the insurance company. The total compensation would be in the range of around Rs 7 crore. This compensation is against the premium amount of Rs 1.5 crore, which was equally shared by the growers and Coffee Board. From forthcoming season onwards, he said the insurance scheme would cover all the three trigger options of blossom shower, backing shower and monsoon rainfall.
