During the 1860s most of the planted coffees were Arabica (Old chicks), which had the bean qualities of the original mokka introduced by Baba Budan. Short’s (1864) modest estimate of the average produce during the period under review was 12 cwt per acre (1525 kg ha -1) or even higher.
Coffee cultivation reached its zenith during the early 1860s. This period also witnessed major outbreaks of pests and diseases. White stem borer passed a major threat to Indian Coffee in 1863. Leaf rust, which probably entered India along with seedlings brought from Sri Lanka (Ceylon), was first observed in an epidemic scale in 1869 (Windly, 1933).
Green bug also appeared during this period. Subsequent years saw a rapid decline in production due to the cumulative ravages of these pests and diseases. Uneconomic prices and the gold rush in Wayanad added to the rapid decline of Arabica. Yields even on well organized estates fell from 8 cwt to less than 3 cwt. Most of the estates with marginal productivity were soon abandoned.
During this period, leaf rust epidemic brought to a close of flourishing coffee industry of Sri Lanka. Arabica gave way to Robusta in Java. In South India, planters made every effort to stem the losses. Silver oaks and dadaps were extensively planted to protect the Arabicas from enervation by leaf rust and borer attacks. Frantic efforts were made to introduce disease tolerant selections, the first in this series being Coorgs developed by Stanley Jupp (1870).
Coorgs soon became susceptible to leaf disease. Enterprising planters like Matheson introduced seed from Brazil, Venezuela, Costa Rica and Jamaica, while Brooke Mockett, Hamilton, Jackson, Kent and Brown tried to select and evolve disease resistant Arabicas with commercial qualities for large scale plantations. The two most promising types evolved were Jackson’s hybrid and Kents, (McDonald, 1930). Kents gradually gained popularity.
Robusta was introduced from Indo-China at the close of the 19Th century for planting in estates at lower elevations. The continuous ravages of pests and diseases along with the steep fall in price decreased the area under coffee from 1,20,000 ha in 1869 to 72,400 ha in 1941.