Coffee Cultivation in Kerala: Some Economic Aspects

Abstract

Coffee production in India is mostly done in Karnataka, Kerala and Tamilnadu. It is one of the important commercial crops of Keralaand is the main source of income and employment to the people of three districts in Kerala. Coffee cultivation is not an easy businessandis adversely affected by various factors at present. Small coffee growers fail to acquiretechnological improvement to compensate labour scarcity and climate change and have limited access to technologies promoted by the Coffee Board of India due to high cost and mode of payment of subsidies.This studyreveals that problems like scarcity of labour, pests and diseases, thehigh cost of production, low price for coffee, marketing difficulties and unusual climate changes often hurt coffee cultivators. However,the schemes and programmes ofthe coffee board benefited the growers. Theanalysis of the profitability of the crop shows that coffee cultivation is profitable in Kerala.