By Madhusudan Timalsina
Kavrepalanchowk, Mar. 8 : The coffee farmers in Kavrepalanchowk, a district famous for coffee production, are worried after the coffee plants started dying due to extreme cold.
While many locals of the district are dependent on coffee cultivation for livelihood, the extreme cold has left them heartbroken.
“The major source of income here is coffee cultivation. But, more than 2,000 coffee plants died due to the extreme cold,” said Lok Bahadur Ghalane, a local coffee farmer in Khanikhola Gaunpalika of the district.
The cold affected the new plants which were cultivated under the grant from Krishi Gyan Kendra and local government. Farmers had also invested personally in the cultivation.
“The cold wave from Terai destroyed the crops along with fog and mist,” said Sambhu Timalsina, a coffee farmer from Bethanchowk Gaunpalika of Kavrepalanchowk.
Due to severe cold, the coffee plants dried up and the coffee beans got destroyed.
According to the coffee farmers, one of the major reasons behind the crops getting destroyed in cold season is lack of shade.
“Loam soil and humidity is a better condition for a coffee plant to grow and so is the shade. The plants, however, could not receive any shade due to extreme cold,” added Timalsina.
The cold has not only affected the farmers in Kavrepalanchowk but around two dozen other districts where coffee is cultivated commercially.
Following the scenario, the National Tea and Coffee Development Board has projected the production of coffee to reduce by as much as 40 per cent this year.
With the damage of coffee plants because of extreme cold, farmers have urged the government to support them in preventing such scenario from repeating in the upcoming years.
Farmers have been cultivating two varieties of Arabica coffee – Bourbon and Typica – in around 104 hectares of land in Kavre. The crop is then exported to various European countries along with Japan and South Korea.