Excess June rain spells trouble for Indian coffee, say growers

Early onset of black rot in Arabica at a farm in Kodagu

The incessant and excess rain during June, the first of the four months of monsoon season, has triggered concerns among the coffee growers in the key-producing regions of Karnataka.

The continuous precipitation in key coffee-producing districts of Chikmagaluru, Kodagu and Hassan has led to the early onset of black rot disease in the arabica variety and fruit rot in robusta in some areas, which could lead to a crop loss in the days ahead for the 2025-26 season starting October.

“It has rained quite a bit without any break during June, resulting in the early onset of the black rot disease in arabica. Due to the continuous rains, growers are unable to complete the timely plant protection sprays, which has led to the early onset of black rot,” said Sahadev Balakrishna, Chairman of the UPASI Coffee Committee. The black rot disease leads to berry drop and crop loss in arabicas.

The IMD has predicted above normal monsoon for this year. The country, as a whole, has received 10 per cent excess rainfall from June 1 to July 1. Chikmagaluru district in Karnataka received a cumulative surplus of 41 per cent during June 1-30, while Kodagu received 9 per cent surplus. However, other key coffee producing districts of Hassan and Wayanad districts have witnessed a cumulative deficit.

Robusta too hit

BS Jayaram, past President of Karnataka Growers Federation, a body of small growers, said the robusta crop has also been impacted due to the incessant rain which led to fruit rot. Some areas in Chikmagaluru and Kodagu have been receiving continuous rains.

“Normally, the black rot and fruit rot diseases appear during end July or mid-August, when there is continuous rains. However, this year, there has been an early onset of these diseases in the month of June itself, which is a cause for concern. We still have three months of rainy season left,” Jayaram said, voicing concern that excess rain could lead to higher crop losses in the coming months.

Fruit rot in arabica at a farm in the BababudanGiri ranges in Chikmagalur

Growers normally take up the cultural operations and spraying of bordeaux mixture with the onset of monsoon during the gaps. However, this year due to continuous rainfall many of them have not been able to take up the sprays as the rain has hindered such operations. “Moreover, this year the rain arrived a week ahead of the schedule and the downpour was heavy,” said HT Mohan Kumar, former President of KGF and member of the private sector consultative board of International Coffee Organisation, London.

While it is too early to quantify the crop losses at this point in time, the KGF has urged the local authorities and the Coffee Board to start assessing the losses caused by the rains, Jayaram said. Besides coffee, the other plantation crops such as arecanut and pepper have also been impacted by the heavy rains.

The coffee producing districts had witnessed good blossom and backing showers during the pre-monsoon period this year, which had lead to a good crop setting across several areas.

USDA projection

The local office of the United States Department of Agriculture has projected a 2.4 per cent decline in India’s coffee crop for the 2025-26 season beginning October due to the weather-related vagaries. The USDA has estimated the output at 6.05 million bags of 60-kg each (3.62 lakh tonnes), down from 6.2 million bags (3.72 lakh tonnes) in the 2024-25 season. The USDA expects production of arabicas for 2025-26 at 1.35 million bags of 60 kg each (81,000 tonnes) against previous year’s 1.4 million bags (84,000 tonnes). Similarly, the robusta output is projected at 4.7 million bags (2.82 lakh tonnes) for 2025-26 against previous year’s 4.8 million bags (2.88 lakh tonnes).

Published on July 2, 2025