Brahmagiri Development Society joins hands with Coffee Board

The Brahmagiri Development Society (BDS), a people’s initiative in Wayanad, has joined hands with the Coffee Board to support small-scale coffee growers in the district, a major Robusta coffee growing region in the country.

The BDS recently signed a memorandum of understanding with the Coffee Board for preparing a comprehensive business plan to promote coffee-based livelihoods in Wayanad.

“According to the Coffee Board, domestic coffee consumption has shown an annual growth of 8%. But the farming community is yet to benefit from it as the profit is pocketed by middlemen and international corporate giants,” P. Krishnaprasad, chairman, BDS, told The Hindu.

“Hence, we are planning to double the income of the coffee farmers in a time-bound manner by avoiding middlemen,” Mr. Krishnaprasad said.

Value addition
They are planning to execute a project in which the BDS would initiate a set of activities, including collective marketing and value addition, along the entire coffee value chain to increase the income of small-scale coffee growers.

Market study
The board, as the consultant, would conduct a comprehensive market study in south India on the feasibility and viability of the initiative and also specify the marketing strategy.

It would hand over the study to the BDS in a month.

The Kerala Chicken Project of the BDS was a huge success and it inspired us to enter into the new venture, he said.

A team of experts from the Coffee Board will interact with the coffee growers in Wayanad at Kattikulam on February 21 and 22.

State initiative
Meanwhile, the State government has initiated a three-pronged strategy, including selling coffee of Wayanad under the brand name ‘Malabar’ to support and double the income of coffee farmers in the district.

The State government allocated a budgetary provision of ₹150 crore to set up a KINFRA mega food park with KIIFB funding in the district.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> State> Kerala / by E.M. Manoj / Kalpeta – February 12th, 2019

In collaboration with the Phom Baptist Christian Association (PBCA) Longleng, the department of Land Resources Longleng conducted a one day training on ‘Package of practices for coffee plantation and Management’ on February 15 at PBCA Conference Hall with John Tsulise Sangtam, Deputy Commissioner Longleng as the guest of honour.

Appreciating the PBCA for taking up the joint venture which is the first of its kind in the state, the DC said that Nagaland was coming up as a favorable land for cultivating coffee in the country. He explained that the state government signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Coffee Board of India recently to boost the State’s economy through supplying coffee.

Tsulise also said that Churches in Nagaland have an important role to play. According to the DC, preaching from the pulpit and collecting from the congregation alone will not better the Church economy. He urged Churches to encourage people to venture into income generating activities.

He also urged the people to not only look for subsidies alone but take up coffee farming so that they may build for themselves a sustainable source of income.

District Project Officer (DPO) Longleng, Kughalu Chishi, in his welcome note advocated for use of improved technologies to increase yield.

He said that coffee production in Nagaland was still in its infancy even if it has been blessed with an ideal climate to yield the best quality coffee in the country. He therefore urged all stakeholders to nurture and grow the industry.

In the technical session, resource person Rongsenkoba Ao, inspector of the Land Resources department Longleng, spoke on the principles of Coffee plantation and its management.

According to Rongsenkoba, there are two different species of Coffee — Arabica and Robusta. He said Arabica grows well at altitudes, and requires gentle to moderate slopes. It is less tolerant to pest and diseases. Robusta grows well in lower altitudes, in plain to gentle slopes and is more tolerant to pest and diseases.

He also explained that coffee is a permanent cultivation and can be grown under the shade of a tree or any other high rise plantation. He said in order to grow healthy coffee plants and for better yield, it is very important to pay attention to soil health.

Speaking about harvest, Rongsenkoba said that to maintain quality, aroma, brew thickness, taste, and acidity, the right kind of coffee beans have to be harvested in the right time adhering to proper suggested guidelines.

During the interactive session, many queries were raised by the participants which were clarified by the resource person.

During the training, more than 50 people from 16 Churches under PBCA and well wishers were in attendance in the program which included a field demonstration and distribution of coffee seeds.

The program was chaired by N. Tialemba Phom, executive secretary, Phom Baptist Christian Association and invocation prayer was pronounced by Nganlang Phom, PBCA Longleng.

source: http://www.nagalandpost.com / Nagaland Post / Home> State / February 15th, 2019