Bengaluru: High coffee prices with attendant attention on the consumption boom in coffee-growing areas are distracting people from the structural problems that the industry is facing, said representatives of coffee-growers’ associations.Growers need to see high prices for a few more years to be able to clear debt, replant, spruce up infrastructure and invest back in plantations, they said.Coffee planters in Karnataka, long burdened by years of low prices and financial strain, received a boost with coffee prices hitting a record high this year. While the price surge paved the way for prosperity for sections of the populace in the coffee-growing region, growers worry that too much focus on new cars bought or houses renovated clouds the underlying issues that need immediate attention. Representatives from Karnataka Planters’ Association (KPA) and United Planters’ Association of South India (UPASI) expressed hope that higher coffee prices over the next couple of years would help the ailing sector get out of the rut it has been stuck in over the past decade or so.“The sudden windfall in the form of bumper prices this year should help us repay loans to spruce up plantations, fund reinvestment plans to enhance the dwindling yield and help rebuild plantations damaged due to climatic vagaries, including landslides and wildlife attacks,” said Sahadev Balakrishna, chairperson of the coffee committee, UPASI.“Due to poor prices in the past, all planters suffered considerable losses due to high cost of input materials, including fertiliser, electricity and labour. This was not confined to one or two years but accumulated over a decade. In fact, year-on-year growth of the sector was only 1.1% in recent years. The high prices are now helping us repay debts. Further, we have to build a financial reserve in anticipation of a possible fall in prices in the near future to safeguard both our and our labourers’ livelihoods,” explained A Arvind Rao, chairperson of KPA.Planters are also cautious about the imminent future as conditions in Brazil and Vietnam — world’s largest coffee-producing countries of Arabica and Robusta, respectively — are returning to normalcy. Adverse weather conditions in these countries had pushed up global price of coffee, including in India. Marvin Rodrigues, coffee planter and former chairperson of KPA, revealed that for years coffee growers have fought to safeguard their plantations from the vagaries of nature. “The damages and losses incurred due to natural calamities, including landslides, drop in soil fertility and pest attacks, were huge. Due to poor prices, growers could not attend to these. Now is the time for planters to take up replanting of borer-infested plants, spruce up water-storage tanks, ponds and irrigation systems. Replanting coffee plants in a damaged landscape is a huge capital expenditure. Much of the profits from the surge in prices would go towards these activities,” Rodrigues said. Amid these challenges, coffee growers are also impacted by severe scarcity of skilled labourers. Of the total expenditure on a plantation, nearly 60% goes towards labour costs. “This includes paying state govt-mandated wages along with additional benefits such as free housing, electricity and medical facilities. Despite these, it is challenging to get skilled labourers. Those who traditionally came from North Karnataka districts have stopped coming. Labour from the north and north-eastern states is not as skilled,” said Girish Punja, a coffee planter and senior member of KPA .Adding to the growers’ stress are rising incidents of human-wildlife conflict. Elephants and bisons inflict great damage to coffee crop. There are frequent reports of deaths too due to this conflict.