Govt Favours Organic Coffee Cultivation In Araku Valley

Visakhapatnam: The Coffee Board will extend all assistance to increase the coffee cultivation area (75,000 acres) in the Araku Valley of Visakhapatnam district in the next five years and the production (currently 4,000 tonnes) will also be doubled. The Coffee Board had identified the tribal belt of Araku as one of the most important non-traditional coffee-growing areas in the country. The crop is important from a socio-economic point of view, as it is giving sustenance to tribals in the eastern ghats and second, the coffee grown in the area is organic, which has great demand abroad.
The Coffee Board will establish coffee pulpers in 11 mandals where coffee was currently being grown. The Paderu Integrated Tribal Development Agency and the Coffee Board would jointly bear the cost of the crop expansion project. On marketing, the Coffee Board will only look after the production and processing of coffee and private companies would be involved in marketing and brand promotion. Already, companies such as ITC have entered the field in a small way and, as the area expands, more companies will join the market.