Inside these unique coffee forests one can witness an incredible variety of rare, exotic, native and endangered species of flora and fauna. The dense coffee forests often conceal a wide variety of song birds too.
India is perhaps the only country in the world growing all its coffee under the canopy of a three tiered shade system. Shade grown coffee is not only environment friendly; it also has a host of other benefits.
Shade grown ecofriendly coffee plantations house a variety of forest and introduced trees which in turn provide biomass in the form of dead wood, leaf litter, plant and other residues.
The full title of this article is Partners in Coffee Bio-Sustainability Coffee Plantations - A Multidisciplinary Approach Natural Selection in Coffee Plantations
Technology has been the driving force behind modern day plantations. The present day coffee farmers are aggressively turning towards chemical inputs in the hope of maximizing returns in a short span of time. Trapped by economic necessity, coffee farmers are ready to abandon traditional wisdom and pump in pesticide and poisons to get better yields.
Building a coffee farm in India is like embarking on a voyage of discovery.
Challenges are in plenty. The first challenge is to break stereo types regarding modern day chemicals and poisons and to develop sustainable technologies keeping one's ears and eyes close to the ground.
In our previous article we had explained the role of bacteria in maintaining the coffee plantation ecology. This article highlights the role of yet another important microorganism namely, FUNGI in shaping the coffee mountain ecology.
Coffee plantations occupy an important part of the Western Ghat landscape. This biological hot spot is home to thousands of species of rare and endangered plant and animal life.
