SSC
Arabica coffee was first brought to India from which country?
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Answer: Option B — Yemen
Detailed Solution
According to popular tradition, coffee was introduced to India in the 17th century (around 1670) by the Sufi saint Baba Budan, who secretly brought seven coffee beans from Yemen (from the port of Mocha) while returning from the Hajj pilgrimage. He planted them in the Chandragiri hills of Chikkamagaluru in Karnataka. These hills are now called the Baba Budan Giri hills.
Why it was smuggled:
At that time, the Arabs closely guarded their coffee trade and did not allow fertile coffee seeds to leave Arabia. Beans were exported only after being roasted or boiled. Baba Budan is said to have hidden the seeds and carried them to India.
Origin of coffee:
Coffee (Coffea arabica) is native to the highlands of Ethiopia. It was later cultivated in Yemen, from where coffee drinking spread through the Islamic world and then to Europe.
Types of coffee grown in India:
Arabica: a mild, aromatic coffee grown at higher altitudes (about 1,000 to 1,500 metres). It has a higher market value.
Robusta: a stronger, more bitter coffee with more caffeine, grown at lower altitudes. It is hardier and gives higher yields. India produces more robusta than arabica.
Coffee in India:
- India is among the top ten coffee-producing countries in the world and exports most of its coffee.
- Karnataka is the largest producer, with major growing areas in Kodagu (Coorg), Chikkamagaluru and Hassan districts.
- Coffee is also grown in the Araku valley (Andhra Pradesh) and the north-eastern states.
- Indian coffee is grown under a canopy of shade trees.
Conditions for coffee:
A hot, humid climate with temperatures of about 15 to 28 degrees Celsius, rainfall of about 150 to 250 cm, shade, well-drained soils and hill slopes.
Coffee Board of India:
It was set up in 1942 and is headquartered in Bengaluru.
Why not the other options?
- ✗Brazil is the world's largest producer of coffee, but it was not the source of India's first coffee.
- ✗Indonesia and Kenya are coffee producers, but coffee did not come to India from them.
Quick tip
Remember: Coffee came to India from Yemen (Mocha), brought by Baba Budan to Chikkamagaluru (Karnataka) around 1670; Karnataka is the largest producer.
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Agriculture in India — Preparation
This question tests your understanding of Agriculture in India, a key topic in the General Knowledge section. The detailed solution above uses a step-by-step approach to show the reasoning, and where available, a shortcut that helps you solve similar questions in under 90 seconds during the actual exam.
This topic covers agriculture in India: cropping seasons (kharif, rabi and zaid), major food and cash crops and their leading producer states, irrigation, the Green, White, Blue and other agricultural revolutions, and allied activities such as animal husbandry and fisheries. Questions usually ask which crop belongs to which season, which state is the largest producer of a crop, and which revolution relates to which product. For example, the White Revolution relates to milk and was led by Verghese Kurien, and the Blue Revolution relates to fisheries. Producer rankings can change from year to year, so check the latest data for those questions. Practise the agriculture in India questions below, written in the style of the general awareness sections of exams such as SSC, banking, railways, CUET GAT, MAH CET and CLAT. Each question comes with a detailed explanation that adds related facts, so every question helps you revise more than one point.