Coffee growers' financial aid likely before March

BS reports

The agriculture and finance ministries are likely to decide on the financial relief package being sought by domestic coffee growers before March, coffee traders said.

The decision will come before March, as banks would like to clean up their balance sheets before the financial year-end, they said.

According to estimates given by them, around 1.4 lakh growers, who had taken loans under the ‘special coffee term loan’ are likely to come under the purview of this package. Growers who took loan on July 1, 2006, would also be covered under the scheme, officials said.

Coffee growers had sought a financial package for waiver of interest on overdue loans as on July 1, 2006, and also rescheduling of the principal amount.

The package was sought in early 2000 since coffee growers could not fulfil their loan obligations due to higher incidence of white stem borer disease, which resulted in drop in productivity, severe shortage of work force, and rise in cost of production.