Wayanad, April 9 (SocialNews.XYZ) With Italy the biggest importer of 'Indian Robusta', a popular variety of coffee turning the biggest hotspot of covid-19, thousands of kilometres away, coffee growers in the hilly district of Wayanad are not that pleased.
In Italy there are over 1.30 lakh coronavirus cases with over 17,000 deaths reported so far.
According to Prasanth Rajesh, of the Coffee Growers Association, the total export of Indian Robusta variety is around 65,000 tonnes to Italy.
"Of this around 50,000 tonnes is from Wayanad. For the past two years, floods took away the sheen and this time with Italy affected due to Covid, things are not that good," said Rajesh.
In 2018-19 the total production of coffee in Kerala is 64,676 tonnes and there are a good number of homestead coffee plants.
M.V.Shreyamskumar, media baron and a former two time legislator told IANS that they are into coffee plantations for several generations in Wayanad.
" The productivity in Wayanad is coming down. When it was around two tonnes per acre, today, it has come down drastically. Italy is the major market for robusta variety, in which Wayanad leads, other areas,a said Shreyamskumar.
Source: IANS
About Gopi
Gopi Adusumilli is a Programmer. He is the editor of SocialNews.XYZ and President of AGK Fire Inc.
He enjoys designing websites, developing mobile applications and publishing news articles on current events from various authenticated news sources.
When it comes to writing he likes to write about current world politics and Indian Movies. His future plans include developing SocialNews.XYZ into a News website that has no bias or judgment towards any.
He can be reached at gopi@socialnews.xyz