CHIKKAMAGALURU: Coffee planter and social activist Holadagadde Girish said it was condemnable that the Union Budget ignored the coffee industry as it lacked any proposal to rescue growers from problems they face.
In a statement on Monday, he said the industry has been fetching considerable foreign exchange to the nation’s coffers, besides playing a key role in environment conservation and providing jobs. “It is alarming to observe that the budget lacks any revival programmes for the beleaguered industry, which is held back by erratic weather patterns, infestations, labour shortages, fluctuating market conditions and threats from wildlife,” Girish said.
The planter pointed out that the budget is silent on crucial subsidies on fertilisers, essential plantation equipment and fundamental necessities, as well as on the facilitation of loans. This neglect has further exacerbated the industry’s plight, pushing it to the brink of despair, he said.
Promises made by Central ministers including HD Kumaraswamy, the chairman of the Coffee Board and other officials during the Central Coffee Research Institute (CCRI) centenary celebration at Balehonnur have proved to be mere rhetoric, Girish said.
The demands for the establishment of an ESI hospital, branding of coffee, promotion of the domestic coffee market and the creation of a Coffee Tech Park have been relegated to obscurity, Girish said.