Baba Budan, who smuggled coffee beans from Arabia,is said to have planted coffee near his hermitage in Dattatreya peta in what is present day western ghats of Chikmangaloru area .
Commercial plantations were opened in south India with British enterprise and investment . The cultivation of coffee rapidly progressed in the next 40 years . In 1856 there were only 7 British planters in Mysore . By 1869 their numbers had increased to 662 owning 8094 hectors of total cultivated area of 58670 Hectors . Indian coffee soon established itself as outstanding in quality and became a commodity second to none in the world market . The early pioneers seemed to have preferred the heavy rainfall areas for opening coffee plantations .
In Chickmagalur,the earliest large scale plantation (Mylemoney)was established by Thomas Cannon in 1830. It is still in good productive condition . Frederic Green started growing coffee in Igoor Sakleshpur(Munzerabad)in 1843. He was followed by Mockett,Jupp,Anderson,and Elliot a group of highly capable Entrepreneurs who have left their mark on this coffee district. In 1843 fred Meppen opened estates near Yemmedoddi ( Kadur).
Malabar Muslims bought seeds and seedlings from Dattatreya Peeta which gave birth to the earliest coffee gardens in Nalaknad village in coorg .Later Fowler near mercara and fennel in Uligolly formed their estates in 1854 . In 1855 Mann and Stewart opened estates near the Sampejae Ghats near Suntikoppa . Balekadu and Yemmegundi were opened by Chisholm in 1860.In 1863,F Mangles planted coffee in Abikutty, Coovercolly and Haleri. Koundinya was the pioneer who opened coffee in bamboo district of coorg .
It is estimated that the total area under coffee in coorg alone was 11,331 hector in 1856. By then the number of British Planters in Coorg had risen to 200.The Karnatic Coffee company Ltd established in 1870 appears to be the earliest company cultivating over 1200 hectors on coorg .
In 1840,Major James Ouchterlony started estates in the O valley of Niligries . Balaharder followed him establishing estates near Kotageri. Coffee came to wayanad in Kerela as early as ee. Coffee grown in Mananthavadyby Brown was known as’Anjarakandy Brown’.Coffee in Shevaroys was pioneered by M.D Cockburn who established Kannahatty estate in 1843.On the Nelliampathies Pradeherry was opened by Arnold in 1860. Infftroduction of Coffee was also made at Sircilla in Karimnagar district in Andhra Pradesh around the same time which proved good results.
Coffee Industry in India.
Today,Coffee occupies a place of pride among plantation crops grown in India . The area under Coffee is 4.15Lakh Hectors of which Arabica accounts for 2.06 lakh hector and Robusta accounts for the rest 2.09 Lakh Hector . The annual Average Production is around 3,10,000 tons and about 75% of coffee is exported . Coffee has contributed nearly Rs.4,600 Crores of foreign exchange to the national exchequer annually . Coffee Cultivation is confined mostly to hilly tracts of western and eastern ghats as a well distributed annual rainfall is preferable .
Site Title 