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PLANTATION AGRICULTURE
Plantation agriculture is a type of intensive farming. These are purely market oriented crops, also termed as cash crops. This type of agriculture was introduced in the western countries. Some of the characteristics of plantation agriculture are: In India, tea, coffee, rubber, sugarcane, and banana are the major plantation crops. Let us see in detail about the coffee plantation system:
 * A single crop is grown on a large scale. These are estate farming where atleast 30-40 acres of land is needed for cultivation.
 * They require heavy capital outlay for construction of roads, appropriate pesticides, machines etc.
 * High level of technology like modern machinery is required for their growth and processing.
 * The production is mainly for the market purpose and is used directly by industries as raw materials.
 * This gives low yield per acre and high yield per man.
 * It requires a well developed network of transport and communication to the plantation areas, industries and markets.

COFFEE PLANTATION
Coffee is the second most important beverage crop of India next to tea. It is indigenous to Abyssinia Plateau in Ethiopia from where it was taken to Arabia. From there its seeds were brought to India in the 17th century and were raised in the Baba Budan giri Hills of Karnataka. Britishers took keen interest in coffee plantation and thus large coffee estates were established near Chikmagalur (Karnataka), Mananthavady, Shevaroy hills and Nilgiri hills]. Coffee plantation requires hot and humid climate with temperature varying between 15°C and 28°C and rainfall varying from 150 to 250 cm. It does not tolerate harsh climatic conditions like frost snow or temperature above 30°C or direct sunshine. Thus it needs shady trees along with it to grow properly. So before the coffee is been sown, big shade giving trees are been planted and the farmer has to wait till they reach great heights.It is basically a two tier system that is followed in coffee plantations where the first layer is the shady trees and second is the trees that provide extra profit to the growers like pepper, jack fruit, etc. This is grown on hilly tops at elevations from 600 to 1600 meters above the sea level. Northern and Eastern aspects of slopes are preferred as they are less exposed to strong afternoon sun and the south west monsoon winds. Well drained, rich loam containing good amount of humus and minerals like iron and calcium are ideal foe coffee cultivation. The soil must be properly manured to retain and replenish fertility and to increase fertility.

India produces about 3.5 percentage of world's coffee and is the seventh largest producer of coffee in the world after Brazil, Vietnam, Columbia, Indonesia, Ethiopia, and Mexico. Coffea Arabica and Robusta Coffee are the two main varieties of coffee grown in India accounting for 49 and 51 percent of area respectively under coffee. Almost the entire production is shared by three states namely Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu.

Karnataka is the largest producer accounting for over 71 percent of total coffee production. Kerala stands third producing 22.27 percent and Tamil Nadu is third producing 6.5 percent coffee. Among the plantation crops, coffee has made significant contribution to the Indian economy during the last 50 years. Indian coffee is well known for its quality and is much in demand in the international market.