Arabica coffee output may drop 25%

Bangalore: The white stem borer menace could have eaten up close to 25 per cent of the country's arabica coffee crop this year, according to the United Planters Association of India (Upasi).

A severe drought in the last two seasons has resulted in rapid borer infestation that may see a 25 per cent drop in arabica output over the initial Coffee Board crop estimates of 1.05 lakh tonnes, said C.P. Kariappa, Chairman (Coffee Committee), Upasi.

"The damage caused by the borer infestation is much more than what we have imagined," Kariappa told a press conference on Monday.

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