Coffee Board

The saga of Indian coffee began on a humble note, with planting of Seven seeds of Mocha during 1600 AD by the legendary holy saint Baba Budan, in the courtyard of his hermitage onBaba Budan Giris in Karnataka. For quite a considerable period, the plants remained as a garden curiosity and spread slowly as back yard plantings. It was during 18th cent... ury that the commercial plantations of coffee were started, thanks to the success of British entrepreneurs in conquering the hostile forest terrain in south India. Since In the interim, the coffee industry in India has experienced great fluctuations in fortunes. Initially the spread of commercial Arabica plantations was rapid in the hills of present day Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu states, till 1860s. Within next few years, major out breaks of pests and diseases like white stem borer, green bug and leaf rust posed a serious threat to the flourishing coffee industry. The continuous ravages of white stem borer and leaf rust spelled doom for Arabica plantations whose area started declining alarmingly. This necessitated introduction of tolerant robusta from Indo-China region towards the 1900s and initiation of research efforts to search for remedial measures. During 1940s, the coffee industry in India was in a desperate state due to the II World war resulting in very low prices and ravages of pests and diseases. At this time, the Government of India established the Coffee Board through a constitutional act Coffee Act VII of 1942 under the administrative control of Ministry of Commerce and Industry. The Board comprises 33 members including the Chairman and the Secretary & Chief Executive Officer. The remaining 31 members represent the various interests such as coffee growing industry, coffee trade interests, curing establishments, interests of labour and consumers, representatives of governments of the principal coffee growing states, and Members of Parliament. The Board functions through six statutory committees which are appointed for one year term each and the ...Read More