Business History of Coffee in Karnataka and its Forward Linkages

Abstract

Coffee is more than just a drink. It is an economy, a passion and a culture in the making. More newlinethan 2.5 billion cups of coffee are consumed everyday across the world. India is sixth largest newlineexporter of the coffee to the world and employs more around 670 thousand workers in the coffee newlineplantations. History of coffee is very much under-researched in India, though history of Indian newlinecoffee is more than 300 years old. Coffee was introduced into India first landing in Karnataka via newlineYemen either through a Sufi saint or Dutch or Arabs. The origin of coffee in Karnataka is shrouded newlinein mystery. newlineThis pioneering work aims to study the history of Indian coffee since its introduction to India. newlineRarely, the attempts have been made to link past of the coffee to its future. This study, utilizing newlinehistorical methods of research, attempts to develop future linkages. PRISMA techniques utilized newlinein a systematic literature review is adopted to identify, examine and include records for this study. newlineIndian Coffee has been subjected to fluctuations in its fortune. Based on the historical turns newlineobserved in Indian Coffee sector, the findings of this study are spread in five time periods: newlinethe period of Coffee s introduction into India (1600-1800); the period during which Colonial newlineregime found the grip on Indian coffee (1800-1900); the period which witnessed growth of native newlineregime in Coffee sector (1900-1960); the period in which Indian Coffee was regulated, by newlinegovernment board (1960-1990); post-liberalization period for Indian Coffee (1990-present). These newlineare identified as fives waves of India coffee. newlineHaving seen increasing potential of coffee in the world markets, the British colonial regime newlineencouraged foreign planters, war veterans and bureaucrats among others to attempt cultivating and newlineproducing Coffee in India. This push on coffee exports became the social drive that sucked newlineunprepared farmers and peripheral areas into the world economy, while focus on linking produce newlineto domestic consumption was almost non-existent. It was only in later part of 19th century and newlineearly part of 20th century when coffee in India faced unprecedented challenges due to widespread newlinecoffee diseases, effects of world war, the Great Depression and increasing clout of Brazil in world newlinemarkets, India could take some reformative steps. Coffee in India was subjected to high regulation, newlineboth by colonial and native regimes in the disguise of making it popular in the world markets. newlineThough coffee research and development actions were initiated by British colonial regime since newlineBusiness History of Coffee in Karnataka and its Forward Linkages newlinexxii newlineearly 1900s, those were incomparable to the ones taken by the coffee producing economies coming newlineunder non-British colonial rule. Post-liberalization in 1995, once the coffee pooling system was newlineabolished, the Coffee Board was given a new avatar to engage in development of coffee in internal newlineand external markets. newlineBased on the historical study, forward linkages are developed in three directions for Indian coffee; newlinevalue chain improvement; the role of the government; and international market performance of newlineIndian Coffee. The forward linkage developed in the area of exports, through this study, is resulting newlinein a recommendation of decision support system for international market selection for Indian newlinecoffee exports newline