Policy, production concerns dominate KPA annual media briefing

Image used for representation purpose only. | Photo Credit: The Hindu

The Karnataka Planters’ Association (KPA), representing over 70% of India’s coffee growers, has reiterated its long-standing objections to the Centre’s draft Western Ghats Ecologically Sensitive Area (ESA) notification. Speaking ahead of the commodity body’s Annual General Meeting in Chikmagaluru, President Salman Baseer urged the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change to give due weight to submissions filed by the body since 2012

The draft ESA proposal aims to legally protect 56,825.7 sq km of the fragile mountain range across six states. However, states like Karnataka, Kerala, and Goa have consistently opposed it, citing concerns that satellite mapping inaccurately covers inhabited villages, infrastructure, and private patta lands, thereby threatening regional livelihoods.

Anil Mathew, vice president of the United Planters’ Association of South India (UPASI), pointed out a critical lack of clarity in the draft. “While the preamble states that land can be used for agricultural purposes, this must be explicitly codified into the operative part of the notification. We have requested the government to insert a definitive non-restrictive clause for agriculture,” Mathew said. The KPA is also seeking exemptions for eco-friendly estate processing from rigid industrial bans, alongside allowances for regulated local resource extraction and captive renewable energy.