Case Study 4

Name:
B. Kariappa Gowda
Age:
74 years
Occupation:
Coffee Farmer, ¾ hectare coffee farm, 1 hectare rice fields - Kelgalale village, Sundekere post. Sakleshpur Taluk

(Click to enlarge)
Courtesy of Dr. Anand
Pereira.“My extended family stay with me on the farm. Because of my small land holding, the family members themselves carry out most of the farm operations. I also tend to the herd of cattle in my village. Because of this the villagers gift me five tractor loads of cattle manure once every year. This had enabled me to put in organics into the farm. However when water and fodder shortage occurred because of the drought the villagers started selling their cattle and hence I had to look towards synthetic chemicals and fertilizers to run my farm. This has upset the balance of nature. The past four years have been really tragic. The water table has gone down, the size of beans has been very small, high pest and disease incidence and since 90 per cent of my plants are Arabica they had to be uprooted because of white stem borer. The life cycle of pests has changed and we cannot predict either the weather or the price. Our income has touched rock bottom and since banks are refusing to bail me out I have taken loans from private money lenders who are charging me sky high interest rates.
(Click to enlarge)
Courtesy of Dr. Anand
Pereira. I have been caught in their clutches and to repay them I sold my timber trees and repaid a major part of the loans. I realize now that the joy of witnessing the timber money was only temporary because today my farm is in tatters. I have no money to improve it and my two sons are becoming restless and asking me to sell. All these years we were a contended lot. The radio that I still have is more than 30 years old and functions very well. My children’s wants and desires are increasing by the day. Last year my son needed an operation and we could not afford the doctors fees. My grand mother aged 89 years is seeing all these things and prays God to take her to her heavenly abode because she feels helpless.

(Click to enlarge)
Courtesy of Dr. Anand
Pereira.My gut feeling is telling me that there is no hope left and it is time to part with the sacred land of our ancestors. Our food intake is reduced and instead of proteins we are only surviving on carbo- hydrates. My greatest achievement to this day is in retaining my property. Most of my fellow coffee farmers who have similar land holdings like me, tell me that if things continue the way they are; coffee farms will be deserts with no trees and biodiversity.

We are earnestly praying to the global community to give us a fair price for our environment friendly produce. This is the greatest gift the global community can give us to put us back on our feet.”

Credit: Thanks to Dr. Anand T Pereira and Geeta N Pereira for conducting this interview exclusively at the request of ThinkQuest Team 01639. The interview has been reprinted as provided and has not been edited or altered.

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