THE THREE R'S OF COFFEE FARMING

摘要

Managing large coffee plantations, plagued by the perils of erratic weather factors, resurgent pests and diseases, spiraling costs of farm inputs, insatiable demands of workers and, of course, volatile coffee prices dictated by the fortunes/misfortunes of Brazilian Coffee is, indeed, a Herculean task. But the coffee planters are so passionate of their enchanting and mystic crop that they pull on despite the insurmountable odds. One of the widely travelled, learned planters from Pulneys in Tamilnadu,once remarked in one of the planters' meets "If I am given another lease of life I would love to be a coffee planter again". Being a small coffee/tea grower from the Nilgiris, with 28 years of experience as researcher/administrator in Coffee Board Research Department, two years as General Manager in a large plantation and 15 years as a coffee plantation consultant, I dare say that the managerial capability, crisis maneuverability, ingenuity, alertness, ruggedness, hard/smart work and thirst for innovation of the planting community, particularly, the large coffee growers, are astonishingly amazing and unparalleled.