Cothas and Levista have built a legacy of coffee marketing in the southern region of India.
Coffee brands work slightly differently in the Southern states of India than the North. The target audience is large and covers most demographics. Coffee in the south is not seasonal but a daily part of the consumer’s lives. If there is any part of India that knows its coffee well, it’s the southern region – not only is it the place where most of the coffee is produced, but it also the biggest consumer.
The Asia-Pacific Ready to Drink (RTD) Coffee Market is projected to grow at a CAGR of 3.5% during the forecast period (2022 – 2027), according to ResearchandMarkets.com
So, who are the big names here?
Cothas and Levista have been ruling the coffee market in the South for some time now.
A brand established in the late 40s, Cothas quickly turned into a go-to name for filter coffee with its first outlet in Bangalore. By late 60-70’s the popularity of Cothas coffee grew immensely. The brand opened 45+ Cothas experience stores in India. The coffee was produced and sourced from one the most popular coffee bean manufacturing regions of the country, Chikmagalur and Kodagu.
Cothas has their final product finishing at their state of art factory. The have mastered in providing different varieties of coffee powder based on the preferences of consumers and expanded globally across the years as their business continues to grow. They are expanding their products and have introduced decoction, cold beverage, snacks & coffee brewing apparatus. They are found in most of the South region in different vending machine and coffee brewers for corporates, institutions and hotels, along with super markets and original stores.
On the other hand, Levista is part of a larger coffee legacy called SLN, one of the pioneers of coffee companies in the country. Its roots are deep seated in Coorg, where coffee plantations are found in abundance. In Coorg, Levista will probably be the first of the brands that you will see in the hill station of Karnataka.
Rolled out in the year 2017, this brand ended up expanded rapidly with products ranging from filter to instant coffee. In 2021, the company said it plans to more than double the number of outlets in Tamil Nadu and Karnataka from 42,000 to one lakh units, besides increasing the number of modern trade outlets across the country from 1,000 to 5,000.
source: http://www.exchange4media.com / e4M / Home> Internet Marketing News> Latest Internet Marketing News > Marketing / by Nilanjana Basu / August 26th, 2022
The women’s cricket tournament will be organized on September 24 at Chettalli High School Grounds.
Ready for the match: Some members of the Chettalli Ours Club.
Madikeri :
‘Kail Podh’ festival in Kodagu is synonymous with a sports fest in the district. Following the ritualistic observation of the festival on September 3, numerous sports tournaments unfurl and enthrall sports enthusiasts. This year, in the first of its kind attempt, a cricket league will be hosted as part of the festivities and is being organized exclusively for women.
‘Ours Club’ – a women’s club established in Chettalli of Madikeri taluk – has taken the initiative of organizing a women’s cricket tournament that has already recorded enthusiastic registrations.
“The club was established in 2010 with 13 members and we have been hosting small sports tournaments for women since then. However, a casual discussion this time ended up becoming a big plan with the instant support received from the club office bearers and members,” explained Shoba Chengappa, the founding president of the club.
She explained that she discussed her plan of organizing cricket with all the women enthusiasts in the district and the club was open to her suggestion.
The club has a total of 64 women members and each one has made personal donations and the women’s cricket tournament will be organized on September 24 at Chettalli High School Grounds.
“Once we finalized the plan, we invited several other women’s clubs and a total of 16 teams have registered for the tourney. There are more who want to join but we have restricted the numbers this time as this is the first year,” she added.
However, once the tournament takes a successful start, the members are open to organizing the event annually. “Once this is successful, we plan to host the tournament in a bigger manner and it will likely be held for two to three days,” she said.
source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> States> Karnataka / by Prajna GR, Express News Service / August 30th, 2022
Coffee Board of India has invited applications for admission to the Post Graduate Diploma in Coffee Quality Management (PGDCQM) for the academic year.
The course has been designed to support the requirements of the Indian coffee industry for trained personnel with the specific knowledge and skills required to function as coffee tasters.
Course content includes Coffee cultivation practices, post-harvest management and practices, Coffee Quality Evaluation, Roasting and brewing techniques, Marketing and Trade, Quality assurance systems (Theory and Practical sessions).
The duration of the course is 12 months split into 3 trimesters and is conducted in English.
Free accommodation will be provided only during the first trimester at CCRI, Balehonnur, Chikmagalur.
Eligibility: Applicant must hold a Bachelor’s degree with at least one of the subjects namely Botany, Zoology, Chemistry, Biotechnology, Bioscience, Food Technology, Food Science, Environmental science or should hold a Bachelor’s degree in Agricultural sciences.
Admissions are open to those from open category and preference is given to those sponsored by coffee industry.
Selection will be based on academic record, personal interview and sensory evaluation test.
Application: Application forms can be downloaded from www.indiacoffee.org or collected personally from Coffee Board, Bangalore.
Application fee of Rs.1500/- has to be paid online.
Filled in application form along with necessary documents should reach ‘Divisional Head, Coffee Quality, Coffee Board, No.1, Dr.B.R.Ambedkar Veedhi, Bengaluru-560 001’ by 16th September 2022.
Foreign students admitted under open and sponsored categories should be well versed in English language. Their admission is subject to the clearance of Govt. of India.
Interview and selection will be on 30th September 2022.
Course Fee is Rs.2,50,000/-. (Rs,1,25,000/- for SC/ST).
The 20th annual get-together of Ramakrishnanagar I Block Kodava Welfare Association and adjoining area residents was held on Aug.7 at The Roost Hotel in city.
On the occasion, the Association felicitated Dr. Kodira A. Kushalappa, retd. IFS officer, for his service towards the preservation of Indian forests and in many organisations.
Kotrangada Shreehan Subbaiah was given a cash prize for securing 96.5% in II PUC exam in Science stream.
The Annual General Meeting began with invocation by Mundiyolanda Nanda. Kodandera Pushpa Machaiah, Secretary, presided. Kenjangada Kariappa welcomed. Annual report was presented by the Treasurer of the Association.
Kattera A. Nanaiah, Advisor, briefed the objectives of the Association. Maletira Ganapathy, Vice-President, proposed a vote of thanks.
Kotrangada Shruthy Poonacha compared.
Codanda Swagath, Joint Secretary and all other Committee Members were present along with about 50 Kodava families of Ramakrishnanagar.
source: http://www.starofmysore.com / Star of Mysore / Home> News / August 28th, 2022
The Seventeenth annual get-together of Jayalakshmi Kodava Association, Mysuru, was held on Aug. 14 at Kodagu Sahakara Sangha in Jayalakshmipuram.
On the occasion, merit scholarship was awarded to the following children of members: Machangada Srujana Ponnamma, Kaveri Somaiah, Taran Ponappa, Shivani Uthappa and Antriksh Kalappa.
Dr. Macharanda Uthappa was honoured for securing his Ph.D Degree in Engineering from VTU while Dr. Geetha Cariappa Chonira was honoured for authoring her first English story book The House of Mayflowers (A Tale From Kodagu).
President Balliyanda P. Uthappa, who presided, requested members to take active part through their attendance both during good and bad times.
Treasurer Muckatira Somaiah presented the accounts for the year 2021-2022. Pandiyanda Anil Cariappa and Mallangada Shwetha Jayaprakash rendered invocation. Shwetha Jayaprakash also welcomed. Condolences were offered to 5 members who departed during the last two years.
The previous year’s team will continue to function as Committee for 2022-2023, headed by Balliyanda P. Uthappa as President, Pandiyanda Girish as Vice-President, Jammada Ganesh Ayanna as Secretary, Muckatira A. Somaiah as Treasurer.
Muruvanda Indira Ganapathy had decorated the hall on Independence Day theme, befitting 75th Anniversary celebrations.
Early bird award went to Mrs. & Mr. Meriyanda Prithviraj & Padma and Pandanda Poonacha. Under the category of best Tricolour attire, Muruvanda Indira Ganapathy bagged the prize. Lucky Snacker – Devanira Viju Machaiah and Kodandera Diya Harsha, Child artiste Devanshi Jayaprakash Mallangada and Manepeda Jumble Fun game was won by Pandiyanda Savitha Girish and Chendanda Sunitha Deepak. All the Committee members took active part in organising the programme.
Maneyapanda Mary Cariappa cut a cake to commemorate her 90th birthday which she had celebrated recently.
Pandiyanda Savitha Girish compered. Kodira Jyothi Poonacha assisted her in conducting the Scholarship and Honouring event. Codanda Chitra Medappa proposed a vote of thanks.
source: http://www.starofmysore.com / Star of Mysore / Home> News / August 28th, 2022
The cabinet approved the establishment of eight new universities in the state and the Kodagu Jnana Kaveri Vishwa University will comprise 22 colleges.
Jnana Kaveri PG Center at Chikka Aluvara that will be developed to KJK University
Madikeri :
Final approval has come its way for the establishment of Kodagu University in the district. The Kodagu Jnana Kaveri Vishwa University (KJKU) will take shape in Kushalnagar and Rs 10 crore funds have been sanctioned for the same.
“Having a university of its own was a long-pending dream of the residents. The final approval has been received from the state. This is a Rs 10 crore project and the existing Jnana Kaveri PG Centre at Chikka Aluvara in Kushalnagar will be developed as the university,” confirmed Madikeri MLA Appachu Ranjan.
He explained that the state will soon appoint an in-charge special officer and the university will function on trial basis for nearly two years under the aegis of Mangalore University. “Following this, Vice Chancellor and other posts will be appointed separately to the university,” he confirmed.
The cabinet approved the establishment of eight new universities in the state and the Kodagu Jnana Kaveri Vishwa University will comprise 22 colleges. Sources confirmed that among the 22, five are government colleges and 17 are private colleges.
“Currently, the Jnana Kaveri PG Center is offering various courses including MSc, MCom, Micro Biology, MA in English, Kannada and other subjects. The college also offers a special MSc in Yoga and environmental studies. PhD courses are also extended by the college,” confirmed Dr Chandrashekaraiah KS, the director of the institution. He confirmed that 450 students are pursuing various courses currently and the establishment of KJKU will attract more admissions in the near future.
source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> States> Karnataka / by Express News Service / August 28th, 2022
Kodagu, a tiny district of state with unique culture is yet to get railway connectivity. Thanks to elected representatives and government.
Madikeri:
Kodagu, a tiny district of state with unique culture is yet to get railway connectivity. Thanks to elected representatives and government. Kodagu situated amid western ghats is only district in south India deprived of railway connectivity. The cry for railway connectivity have decades of history.
It was K H Muniyappa, the then state minister for railways in the year 2011 budget announced railway connectivity to Kodagu. In the year 2012 the railway department launched the first stage of the preliminary survey works on the route at Mysuru -Kushalnagar line of 87.5 kilometres. The department completed preliminary engineering-cum-traffic survey between Mysore-Kushalnagar in four months and the project cost was estimated at Rs 651.4 crores. But even after a decade the work was not taken up. After the survey higher railway officers opined that it is economically not viable owing to less passenger traffic in the route. Amid this environmentalists objected to the project saying forest would be destroyed , thousands of trees would cut to install railway track
It was in the year 2014 Lok Sabha elections the Mysore Kodagu MP Pratap Simha in a TV debate announced that he would bring train to district before 2019 and would not contest 2019 polls if work is not done. But Pratap Simha failed to keep up his promise and even got elected in 2019 election again by promising that union government sanctioned the project. Till today the project is lying on paper and no progress was seen. The construction wing of South Western Railway (SWR) awarded tender for final location survey (FLS) in the year 2020 to Hyderabad-based company called Mata Constructions and Builders Limited to conduct the survey but the company abandoned the work and left. Again the work was awarded to Hyderabad-based Aerial Construction (P) limited but this bidder also left without conducting survey.
In July last, the SWR construction division awarded the tender for FLS to Bangalore-based Sipra infrastructure development Private limited for Rs 1.65 crores. The period for completion of work is six months , but the company is yet to begin work through drone cameras.
Speaking to this reporter on Friday SWR Mysore division senior engineer said that the company officials would start the work within a week as rains hindered the work. After completion of FLS we could know the exact amount of the project , number of bridges and number of railway stations to be constructed and other infrastructure works.
He said now as per railway estimation the project cost went up to 1852.5 crores and exact amount could be known only after FLS. He said in this final survey we could identify the exact land to be required for project with survey numbers.
He said though it is called railway link to Kushalnagar it does not enter Kushalnagar, a border town of Kodagu. The railway line comes up to Koppa village in Periyapatna taluk , just two km from Kushalnagar.
According to proposal the railway project would come up with union and state government investments at 50 per cent each. The state government should provide land for the project at its cost. After the FLS the railway authorities would submit the Railway board. After approval of the board the union government would allocate funds in budget for implementation of project. In the year 2018 itself the vernacular dailies published Mysuru-Kushalnagara new railway line under the caption what Karnataka gets in railway budget , but the project is still on cards. The industrialists, people opines that this is much needed project for overall development of district. The tiny district Kodagu accounts more than 30 per cent share in annual coffee production of the country with production of 1.2 lakh tones of the total 3.6 lakh tones. Nearly 70 per cent coffee is being exported . The railway connectivity would save lakhs of rupees expensive road transport to ports. The railway line would reduce traffic drastically in Madikeri –Bangalore national highway as more than 300 buses were plying in this route at present.
When contacted Kushalnagar based SLN coffee curing and exporters (P) Limited managing partner S L Sathappan said that most of the coffee produced in Kodagu is being exported through Cochin, Mangalore and Chennai ports in trucks. If railway comes to Kushalnagar we could ship directly through containers as majority of coffee curing works are situated here. He said more than 50 per cent of transport cost can be saved which finally beneficial to growers.
Speaking to this paper Kodagu tourism department officer H B Raghavendra said that day by day the number of tourists visiting Kodagu is swelling. Approximately 20 lakh tourists visiting the district which is also called as Kashmir of South. Of this at least 10-25 per cent coming from other states . The railway connectivity helpful to attract tourists from faraway places.
An ex- serviceman B P Kuttappa from Somwarpet told this paper that the district has at least 10 thousand personnel working in defence forces in various locations of the country. Railway connectivity would help them much and even shifted aged patients to Mysore , Bangalore hospitals for treatment and save taxi fares.
When contacted MP Pratap Simha said that the project was delayed after railway officers submitted a report that it is economically not viable and for obtaining environment clearances. Again two companies abandoned work of FLS caused delay. But now everything is cleared and work of FLS would resume soon. He said the union government even included the project in pink book and allocated Rs 1,000 crores in 2022-23 union budget itself. He said he is getting in touch with railway officers and closely watching the development and reiterated that district would get railway connectivity. But people of district feels that lack of will power of elected representatives and politicians have caused delay of the project.
source: http://www.thehansindia.com / The Hans India / Home> News> State> Karnataka / by Coovercolly Indresh / Hans News Service / August 27th, 2022
Largest ever Family reunion in Virajpet on Dec. 24, 2022
Kodava Clan is hoping to establish a World Record by organising the largest ever Family reunion in Virajpet on Dec. 24, 2022 with more than 10,000 Kodavas inter-related to each other meeting at one location. This will be the first-of-its-kind attempt across the world to beat the existing world record of 4,514 people/family members meeting in France documented in the Guinness Book of World Records.
Kodava Clan, the company organising this event, is the first ever, one-of-its-kind interactive, crowd sourced virtual museum that has created the largest online family tree of the Kodava community or going back at least 15-16 generations in some cases and recognised by the Indian Book of Records.
Founded by Gummattira Kishoo Uthappa, the portal is the first online museum cataloguing data, statistics, history, culture and festivals, heritage, language of the Kodavas dating back from the 16th Century.
The Kodavas are a small but illustrious community that has contributed to the Indian Armed Forces, Government, Judiciary, Sports, Medical profession and many more across India and the world. The justification for this can be seen on the portal www.kodavaclan.com.
Kodava Clan is also a social networking site for the Kodava community to find or establish their familial association with other Kodavas, irrespective of the generation he/she maybe a part of, from any part of the world. Founder Kishoo states, “This is possible only due to the extensive research undertaken by our dedicated team in the last 5 years which includes collecting and verifying data from almost 750 Okkas we connected with.
Kodavas are proud of their culture and that is clearly exhibited in the information shared in the heritage section of the portal. The heritage section is a virtual museum with 10 categories, with over 2,500 articles in all, with achievers across sectors, Ainmanes or traditional family homes, cuisines, eminent people from the community, entrepreneurs, festival and customs, flora and fauna, history, Kodava Thakk (Kodava dialect), sports, statistics and tourism.
The Section is a ready reckoner for those requiring information on its history, unique traditional customs and rituals. Recognising the huge value in cataloguing its rich and unique heritage, scores of families have given contributions of articles, information and rare photographs to this site.
Kodava Clan has exciting and dynamic future plans for this virtual portal to make it more interactive and dynamic portal to keep any one engaged on the portal for any of his interest as it has covered the subjects of every walk of life.
As its community grows, Kodava Clan has also included an advertising feature to promote business houses and make it self-sustainable for the portal in the days to come.
source: http://www.starofmysore.com / Star of Mysore / Home> Feature Articles / August 26th, 2022
In today’s Finshots we talk about the main issues coffee farmers face in this country
The Story
Coffee!
Each day, over 1 billion people gulp down 2.5 billion cups of this steaming hot beverage. What was called the Devil’s Drink in the 1600s has now become a staple concoction across the world. And there’s one country that produces and exports most of this coffee — Brazil. In fact, it produces a staggering 40% of the world’s coffee and they are the undisputed leader.
But all’s not well with Brazil. The world’s biggest producer has been going through a bit of a rough patch. It has been hit by freakish weather — cold snaps and frost, combined with a lack of rain. Which in turn has led to a fairly lacklustre crop this year.
Now India is seeing a silver lining here. It thinks this could be an opportunity to export more of its own stuff. After all, the Coffee Board expects India to deliver a higher coffee output this year. And maybe Brazil’s loss could be India’s gain?
Well, not so fast. India really hasn’t been doing well on the export front of late. In fact, from FY12 to FY21, coffee exports have fallenby 3% annually. And that’s because Indian coffee farmers are dealing with their own problems.
For starters, there’s climate change.
You see, nearly 80% of India’s coffee production comes from the two southern states of Karnataka and Kerala. But the past few years have been a damp squib. The rains have been erratic. Some years, the monsoon came early and other times it came with vengeance. When the rains came early, the coffee fruit ripened too soon and the output was no good. When it poured heavily, flooding and landslides wiped out the crops. Farmers simply couldn’t catch a break. And with crops destroyed, yields have dropped from 500 kg to 250 kg per acre for the arabica variant of coffee bean.
Then there’s the bit about prices.
In 2019, coffee prices in real terms (i.e after adjusting for inflation) were a whopping 45% below their 2011 level. In some sense, if you were a coffee farmer, you’d have to cut costs and raise output to maintain the same standard of living. In fact, in most cases, there were no improvements. Farmers lost money hand over fist. This was further exacerbated by the excess supply of coffee beans coming in from Brazil and Vietnam. Prices took a real beating.
But the costs weren’t following the same trends. It was becoming increasingly expensive to plant and harvest coffee. For instance, according to the Karnataka Planters Association, the cost per acre of producing the arabica coffee bean variant has soared from ₹50,000 to ₹85,000 per acre. This is just in the past 3 years. Fertilizer prices have shot up. Labour costs have also ballooned. And consequently, the coffee-growing business just isn’t that financially viable anymore. Many small farmers have sold their plantations. Or even begun cultivating other crops instead.
And finally, there’s the policy-related matter.
Even though coffee is a very important crop for India, it doesn’t come under the purview of the Ministry of Agriculture. That’s right! It’s actually a part of the Ministry of Commerce. And that classification creates its own issues. For instance, coffee growers may not get the same subsidies and benefits that are extended to India’s farmers. And that’s not us saying that. Even a senior liaison officer of the Coffee Board, Yercaud and Kolli Hills, said, “Currently, we do not provide any subsidy to farmers.” And unlike many other crops, there isn’t a minimum support price (MSP) scheme pan India that can help alleviate the stress.
Now even if we were to ignore all these problems, India still wouldn’t be able to ramp up coffee production quickly. Simply because growing coffee is not an overnight affair. It takes 3–5 years for coffee trees to mature and yield bright red coffee cherries.
And what’s the government doing about all this?
Well, they are attempting to amend the decades-old Coffee Act of 1942 and replace it with the Coffee (Promotion and Development Bill) of 2022. While it’s too soon to spell out the specifics of the new Act, hopefully, it’ll have measures that’ll bring some respite to India’s struggling coffee farmers.
But wait…there still exists a long-term issue that no one’s paying attention to.
See, coffee is quite a sensitive crop. It needs the perfect temperature to bring out the best aroma and taste in the beans. Even if things get a little hotter, that can have an adverse impact on the quality of the beans. And temperatures in the coffee-growing regions of southern India are expected to rise by around 2 degrees Celsius by the mid-2030s. How are we going to combat this? No one knows yet.
So yeah, it doesn’t seem like India’s coffee farmers are going to be able to sit back on their porch with a cup of joe and relish the tough times in Brazil.
Heavy and unseasonal rains since July have led to most of the coffee dropping off the plants, which planters estimate has led to a 30-35% decline in production in the state.
Since 2018, problems for Karnataka coffee growers have only compounded, making it harder to survive on a product whose prices have seen violent fluctuations as it is connected to global markets while internally few factors have changed to help their cause.
Heavy and unseasonal rains since July have led to most of the coffee dropping off the plants, which planters estimate has led to a 30-35% decline in production in the state.
Ground reality
Coffee growers have multiple challenges such as increasing labour costs due to dire shortage, crop damage, landslides, human-animal conflict, unseasonal rainfall, price fluctuations and the recent proposal on eco-sensitive zones in the western ghats among others.
“The rains have been very heavy and prolonged downpour this time and especially high in the Western Ghats region has led to wet-foot conditions and dropping of coffee. The coffee, which is supposed to be harvested by December, is largely damaged and we estimate a 30% loss in crop,” said Bose Mandanna, a coffee planter and former member of the coffee board.
Hassan, Chikmagalur and Kodagu are the biggest growing coffee regions in the country, accounting for 241,650 tonne production out of total 342,000 tonne produced in India.
With at least 70-80% of the total produce exported globally, coffee was among the biggest foreign exchange earning sectors. However, the importance of this sector has declined over the years, especially the booming information technology and related industries which overshadow plantation revenues now.
“Coffee is a commodity where prices are determined at a global level. But having a strong domestic market is an insulation whenever there is a price variation. So, we don’t want to increase domestic consumption because our coffee is regarded as very high quality and has good demand in the international market. But if there is a bumper production in Brazil and Vietnam, the prices will collapse. At that time, the farmers should not feel that they have suffered a huge loss. That time having a strong domestic market is very important and the coffee board is balancing both,” said KG Jagadeesha, CEO & secretary of the Coffee Board of India.
Nature’s fury
In 2018, 39 villages near Madikeri and Somwarpet experienced several landslides as the downpour wreaked havoc in several parts of Karnataka, especially Kodagu, that resulted in permanent plantation land loss to over 8,000 people, according to Nanda Belliappa, a coffee planter in Huttihole Post, Madapur village near Madikeri.
Several planters have since gone to court seeking relief for permanent land loss due to landslides which they claim was “not an act of god but certainly was a manmade disaster”.
“The incessant heavy rainfall and the huge amount of water released from the reservoirs causing fluctuations resulted in hydrostatic pressure due to which landslides occurred at various places, more particularly in the 39 villages. The river water had entered the plantation zones that were quite far away from the river bed,” according to a petition filed in (Karnataka High court) in 2020.
Located near Harangi Dam, this belt saw the most amount of devastation, in which over 100 people in the state lost their lives.
Belliappa lost nine acres permanently and received ₹35,000 per acre compensation, which was capped at a maximum of 2 ha (1 ha=2.47 acres) or around ₹1.75 lakh as per the National Disaster Relief Fund (NDRF) norms.
“Around 8,000 planters have been displaced. Totally if you see around 900 ha are lost. We are demanding that we be given the same compensation when the government acquires land for roads or other developmental works. On that basis, if we have lost land, the government has to compensate on that level which is normally three or four times the guidance value,” Belliappa said.
Jagadeesha said: “NDRF norms are the same for all farmers as it does not differentiate between coffee or arecanut or anyone else. The compensation is paid at ₹36,000 per hectare for crop loss. For land loss it is a bit more. But the compensation which is paid to a paddy or agricultural farmer or ragi or jowar or coffee is the same. The demand by coffee growers is that plantation crops are different. Even in the (coffee) act, a small coffee grower is classified as 10 hectares whereas it is only 2 hectares. So, they are asking if compensation can be done up to 10 ha.”
He said post the 2018 landslides, a committee under the Karnataka chief secretary did send recommendations to the union government at least three times but are yet to hear back from the Centre.
“The committee unanimously recommended that the compensation be increased from ₹36,000 to ₹72,000 and the 2ha limit be increased to 10 ha. That recommendation has gone, but we have not heard anything. We have written three to four times from the coffee board. We are in favour of giving more compensation to coffee growers because the investment is more,” he said.
Proposed new coffee act
The union government has proposed to replace the 80-year-old Coffee Act with the Coffee (Promotion and Development Bill) 2022 that is expected to come up in the next session of Parliament. “These are very old laws and the idea is only to simplify them, make it easier to do business, ensure that the small people in the different areas like coffee growing, tea growing do not have to suffer from high levels of compliance burden,” Piyush Goyal, the minister for commerce and industry, had said, PTI reported in July.
Among the changes proposed in the new act is the shifting of coffee from the commerce and industries department to agriculture, which, it believes, would give the planters all the benefits from significantly large agricultural schemes.
But, how does this impact coffee growers?
Planters, who spoke to HT, said there was definitely more money and funds in the agriculture department, but fear that coffee would not be treated as a priority when compared to other crops such as paddy, wheat and others. They also said coffee requires officials with expertise in the subject.
“The situation today is that even after cultivating coffee under shade for about 170 years, we are still not globally recognised as shade-grown coffee. These are the things that the coffee board needs to do. The moment the shade is more, our yield productivity will come down to the tune of one-third of what Brazilians do. They have open field cultivation. Coffee boards need to promote, they should certify and see to it that sustainable activity which is practised in the coffee industry gets recognised globally,” said Vishwanath KK, an executive member of the Codagu Planters Association.
Vishwanath said the Indian council of agricultural research must do the research and the commerce ministry should focus on trading, promotion and other commercial activities. “The coffee board served its purpose. The last 20 years there is a clear disconnect between the farmers and the board and the research. Now, there has to be an opportunity for the commodity to take it to the next level,” he said.
Jagadeesha said the proposed coffee act is scheduled to come up in the next session of Parliament, but added that the proposal to change from commerce and industry department to agriculture will make no difference on the ground.
“One of the reasons is since the agricultural department has a bigger budget, the farmers may benefit from this. That too is only an expectation,” he said. However, he said this proposal has not moved on paper and since coffee was export heavy, it will remain with the commerce and industries ministry.
source: http://www.hindustantimes.com / Hindustan Times / Home> Cities> Bengaluru News / by Sharan Poovanna, Bengaluru / August 22nd, 2022
WELCOME. If you like what you see "SUBSCRIBE via EMAIL" to receive FREE regular UPDATES.
Read More »
