Untimely rain in Karnataka's Chikkamagaluru damages coffee, areca crops

CHIKKAMAGALURU: Untimely rain that lashed parts of the district on Tuesday has damaged coffee crops and also affected areca harvesting.
Koppa, Narasimharajapura, Mudigere, Kalasa, Chikkamagaluru, Tarikere, Sringeri taluks received rainfall in the evening.
The rain caused large-scale damaged to coffee crops and caused berry dropping in coffee fruits, which were fully ripened. In addition, a large quantities of coffee bean that were put up for drying were washed away in rain water.
K H Arun, a planter in Kudregundi in Koppa taluk, said atleast six bags of coffee bean have been washed away from drying yard due to rain. Arun had completed coffee picking on Monday.
According to H L Deepak, another grower, the untimely rains will also affect next year's crops.
However, the district is like to receive rains in Wednesday too, according to weather expert P S Shabnum, who works as subject matter specialist at the Agrometeorology centre. Rainfall was also reported from T Narasipura and Nanjangud in Mysuru district on Tuesday