Silas Brasileiro, President of the Brazilian Coffee Growers’ Council, will open the Global Coffee Platform’s (GCP) Global Coffee Sustainability Conference 2018, to be held from 8 to 9 November in Belo Horizonte, Brazil.
The annual event brings together sustainability companies and representatives from nine GCP platforms around the world – Brazil, Vietnam, Indonesia, Uganda, Colombia, Kenya, Honduras, Tanzania and Peru – to discuss topics such as the future of sustainability, the role of producing and consuming countries, sustainable coffee regions, and impact investments to promote sustainability.
Other speakers include keynote speaker José Luiz Tejon, Director of Biomarketing Agência de Propaganda e Consultoria; José Sette, Executive Director of the International Coffee Organization; Marcelo Burity, Head of Green Coffee Development at Nestlé; Daniel Martz, Director of Corporate Affairs and Sustainability at Jacobs Douwe Egberts; Han de Groot, CEO of Rainforest Alliance; Steven Collet, Director of the Dutch Sustainable Trade Initiative; and Kim Elena Ionescu, Sustainability Director of the Specialty Coffee Association.
“The conference will be a unique opportunity to interact with prestigious names of the Brazilian and international coffee sectors, professionals of public and private sectors, associations, certifiers and verifiers, NGOs, people truly engaged and committed to coffee sustainability,” GCP Chairman Carlos Brando says in a release.
For more information, visit www.gcsc.coffee.
source: http://www.gcrmag.com / Global Coffee Report / October 23rd, 2018
Hockey India on Wednesday congratulated Rohini Bopanna on being promoted as FIH International Technical Official by the FIH Officials Committee. The World Governing Body for Hockey announced its decision on Wednesday. Earlier this year, Bopanna was also appointed as a Technical Official for the 5th Women’s Asian Champions Trophy 2018 held in Donghae City, South Korea, after having officiated as a Technical Official at the 9th Women’s Asia Cup 2017 in Kakamigahara, Japan.
Rohini Bopanna started her career as a Technical Official when she first officiated during the 4th Hockey India National Championship (Women) in 2014 where she was involved with the Junior, Sub-Junior and Senior categories. Being a former hockey player herself, the 38-year-old has since then officiated in various domestic and international events.
Bopanna considers her first International assignment as a key milestone in her career as a Technical Official which came when she officiated at the 12th South Asian Games 2016 in Guwahati, India. She was also assigned to officiate the 4th Women’s Asian Champions Trophy which was held in Singapore later that year.
Hailing from a family that has hockey in its roots, Bopanna also played for the state of Karnataka in all age groups – Junior, Sub-Junior and Senior level. Her husband, P. Bopanna, also used to play hockey as a Goalkeeper, and has supported the 38-year-old in her endeavor as a Technical Official.
“It is a huge honour for me to have been promoted as FIH International Technical Official by the FIH Officials Committee. Exposure at the 4th Hockey India National Championship (Women) in 2014 helped me start my career as a Technical Official, and I have been fortunate to have officiated in various domestic and international tournaments. I would like to thank my family for always supporting me and helping me in continuing with my duties of being a Technical Official.
“I would also like to extend my gratitude to the Hockey India Umpiring, Technical and Competitions Committee for believing in my abilities and for giving me opportunities to progress and grow as a Technical Official. This would not have been possible without their training, guidance and support,” an ecstatic Bopanna said.
Congratulating Rohini Bopanna on her promotion accorded by the FIH, Hockey India’s Secretary General, Rajinder Singh said, “I would like to wish Rohini Bopanna the very best for her promotion as FIH International Technical Official by FIH Officials Committee. It has been Hockey India Umpiring, Technical and Competitions Committee’s aim to train, guide and support the upcoming officials to the International level by providing them with exposure in domestic and international competitions.
“I am delighted to see several technical officials and umpires making their name through hard-work and determination in the International stage, and would like to wish Mrs. Bopanna the very best for the future.”
source: http:/www.sportskeeda.com / SportsKeeda.com / Home> Field Hockey> News / Press Release / New Delhi, October 24th, 2018
Seoul Cafe Show has announced it will launch Cafe Show Mocha Port, a one-to-one business matching and networking service to connect buyers and exhibitors at the event, taking place from 8 to 11 November.
Seoul Cafe Show expects the online meeting service to provide productive customer relationship management and communications, resulting in more business and efficient time management.
More than 600 exhibitors have already registered their products in Mocha Port, from fields such as coffee, food and beverage, bakeries, interior, machine and equipment, and start-up companies.
Approximately 6000 coffee industry buyers from about 30 countries, including Japan, China, Taiwan, Vietnam, India, Malaysia, the Americans, and Europe, will go on the pre-matching system.
Exhibitors and buyers who want to match the companies participating in the Seoul Cafe Show can register until the end of October. The online pre-matching will be processed until the end of October.
The Seoul Cafe Show will be held at Samsung-dong in Seoul, Korea.
Cafe Show Seoul will host a range of events, competitions, and seminars such as the World Coffee Leaders Forum, Seoul Coffee Festival, and World Coffee Battle.
For more information, visit www.cafeshow.com/eng
source: http://www.gcrmag.com / Global Coffee Report / October 24th, 2018
Zilient / ARCHIVE PHOTO: A visitor checks coffee beans at the ‘International Coffee Festival 2007’
Indigenous people in southern India are combatting deforestation by planting millions of fruit trees to shade their coffee crops
By Rina Chandran
Bangkok (Thomson Reuters Foundation):
Once forbidden by colonialists from cultivating coffee, indigenous people in southern India have won a prestigious award for their bean, which they farm while fighting deforestation.
Araku Valley Coffee won gold in the Prix Epicures OR Award in Paris earlier this month. The beans are grown by Adivasis – or “original inhabitants” – of southern Andhra Pradesh state through a cooperative set up by the Naandi Foundation.
The organic farming model has benefited more than 45,000 Adivasi families, with profits from the high-grade coffee put into schools, healthcare and other needs of the remote community, according to Manoj Kumar, who founded Naandi.
The initiative has been a success because it built on the strong connection that Adivasis have to the forest, he said.
“They fully embraced the concept of biodynamic farming, because it is a holistic approach that benefits the eco-system, and is in tune with their traditional beliefs of caring for the community and the forest,” he said.
“This is not just about food security; it is also about pride in living without government handouts, and conserving the forest,” he told the Thomson Reuters Foundation over the phone.
The Adivasis are also countering deforestation by planting millions of mango, papaya and orange trees to provide shade for their coffee crops, as well as in other areas, with support from the Paris-based Global Livelihoods Funds.
While India has pledged to keep a third of its total land area under forest and tree cover, a growing population and increasing demand for land for mining and other industrial activities are placing greater stress on forests.
Activists say a new forest law favouring commercial plantations would undermine indigenous rights over forests and lead to more logging.
Coffee estates thrived in the Araku valley’s cool climate during the British colonial period, but Adivasis were prevented from growing it and did not take up the crop after independence, according to Kumar.
That changed after the Naandi Foundation began working in the region 18 years ago, first setting up schools and healthcare facilities, and then helping to organise a cooperative to farm and market coffee.
Araku Valley Coffee soon commanded high prices in global auctions, and opened its first cafe and shop last year in Paris.
But the real challenge for the Adivasis is not picking coffee beans the right shade of red or deciding on a marketing plan; they face a more existential threat as forests disappear, Kumar told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.
“The Adivasis have such a deep spiritual connection with the land and the forest,” he said.
“Taking that away from them is taking away their life.”
(Reporting by Rina Chandran @rinachandran. Editing by Jared Ferrie. Please credit the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, that covers humanitarian news, women’s rights, trafficking, property rights and climate change. Visit news.trust.org to see more stories.)
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
source: http://www.news.trust.org / Thomson Reuters Foundation News / by Home> Place / by Rina Chandran / October 15th, 2018
As many 25 poets read out their works in Kannada and five others read out theirs in Sanskrit, Hindi, Tulu, Kodava and Konkani. Main section of the three- day poets meet held at the Jaganmohan Palace on Monday
Mysuru:
The Kodagu disaster and the environment concerns that it has thrown up seemed to be on the minds of several poets at the “Dasara Pradhaana Kavighoshti,” the main section of the three- day poets meet held at the Jaganmohan Palace on Monday.
As many 25 poets read out their works in Kannada and five others read out theirs in Sanskrit, Hindi, Tulu, Kodava and Konkani.
Both 71- year- old, Dr T Govindaraju, who recited his poem in Kannada and Cauvery Udayam, a poet from Kodagu, who recited hers in Kodava , focused on the recent floods and landslides in Kodagu. Dr H S Rudresh, meanwhile, read out his poem on the late former Prime Minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
Thirty two children recited their poems at the first day of the poets’ meet, “Chiguru Kavighoshti” which was held on October 12 and 31 more the next day.
source: http://www.deccanchronicle.com / Deccan Chronicle / Home> Nation> Current Affairs / by Shilpa P, Deccan Chronicle / October 16th, 2018
MLA K G Bopaiah, MLC Veena Acchaiah and others take part in the inaugural session of a skill development programme meant for flood-affected women from Kaluru village on Sunday.
MLA K G Bopaiah has called upon the flood victims not to lose hope but to rebuild their lives by boosting their confidence.
He was speaking after initiating a skill development and training session in sewing and food processing at the Government School at Kaluru.
The programme was organised by the Kodagu branch of the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan and the Project Coorg as a part of the ‘Yashaswi’ project meant for the women of Kaluru, which was ravaged by natural calamity.
Bopaiah further said that assistance would be provided by the government for women from the village towards setting up a platform to market the processed food prepared by them. He also assured release of grants from the MLA fund towards construction of a community hall in Kaluru and Devasturu villages, along with providing a site, following the requests of the village residents.
MLC Veena Achaiah expressed hope that the project would help the trained women lead a self-sustainable life.
K S Devaiah, Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan Kodagu branch president, said that the food and dress items prepared by the women would be put up for sale at shops in the Kodava Samaja complex.
Project Coorg convener Balaji Kashyap said that the women from the flood-affected village would be provided training in sewing for three months, with 28 sewing machines. Also, 30 women would be provided training in food processing and the products would be released in the market with the brand name ‘Coorg Flavour’.
Kodava Samaja, Madikeri vice president M E Chinnappa and Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan member Kuppanda Premnath were present on the occasion.
Doubles star Ashwini Ponnappa, who moved from the Delhi Dashers to the Awadh Warriors for a whopping amount of Rs 32 Lakh, is happy with the importance and the pricing the doubles players have attracted during the recently concluded Premier Badminton League auctions.
Ponnappa believes doubles game is growing in India and there is awareness among the fans.
A file photo of the damage caused by the floods in Kodagu. | Photo Credit: G.P. Sampath Kumar
It will expedite rehabilitation and reconstruction works in district
Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy has announced the formation of the Kodagu development authority to enable speedy reconstruction of the district, parts of which were ravaged by floods and landslips this August.
He was interacting with the affected people at Gandhi Maidan in Madikeri on Wednesday. Mr. Kumaraswamy said he received memorandums from the people to constitute a separate authority and found merit in the suggestion. “An authority under the chairmanship of the Chief Minister will be constituted to expedite the relief and rehabilitation work in Kodagu,” said Mr. Kumaraswamy.
The Chief Minister also said the educational expenses of children affected will be entirely borne by the government while emphasis will also be on restoration of schools and colleges that were damaged during the natural calamity.
In addition, emphasis will be on restoration of farm land, including plantations, for which staff from other districts too will be deployed or posted to agriculture and horticulture departments. He said the State government had released ₹127 crore for the rehabilitation works in the district so far.
There were nearly 800 families who had lost their houses and the government will release ₹10,000 per month towards house rentals as a temporary measure. Each family that has been bereft of its property will receive ₹8.53 lakh as compensation and the reconstruction of houses will be taken up quickly, he added.
The objective of the interaction programme was to infuse confidence among the victims and elicit their views and expectations from the authorities. Mr. Kumaraswamy said he will visit the district again to review the rehabilitation.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> States> Karnataka / by Special Correspondent / Mysuru – October 18th, 2018
Top doubles player Ashwini Ponnappa, her partner N Sikki Reddy, and coach Tan Kim Her give us some pro tips to become a better doubles badminton player.
If badminton is rock music, doubles badminton is heavy metal.
Faster, sharper, more chaotic, more emphatic beats per second; the doubles game feels like someone has turned up the volume and energy levels on a badminton court. It’s busy and breathless calling for action and reaction every second.
Unlike doubles in racquet sports like tennis and squash, doubles badminton is a specialist art. Players are meant to be groomed from a young age for doubles badminton. It is rare to see a badminton player compete in both singles and doubles.
To understand exactly what it takes to be a top-level doubles player, we spoke with Ponnappa, N Sikki Reddy and doubles coach Tan Kim Her. Here is what they had to say.
Delight in doubles
Even though doubles is usually seen as a fall back choice in India, it is treated on par with singles around the world. Players are selected when they are 15-16 years of age to be specifically groomed for doubles. India’s doubles coach Tan Kim Her believes that the first step for the country towards becoming an all-round badminton powerhouse is giving doubles badminton the same respect and importance as singles.
“Doubles is also an Olympic event,” says Malaysia’s Tan, who was appointed the doubles coach in 2016. “People don’t understand that if you win an Olympic medal in doubles, it’s still an Olympic medal. We need to change that mindset. And for that to happen, players, coaches and parents all need to sit down and decide to take up doubles at an early age.”
Get out of your comfort zone
The norm around the world is that coaches pair up doubles players. Going against that trend, Indian players usually choose their partners based on whom they are comfortable with rather than who complements them most on the court. While understanding between partners is absolutely critical, players may not be in the best position to objectively pick the right partner for themselves.
“In India, we have grown up thinking, ‘Oh no, I don’t like her. I don’t want to play with her!’” says N Sikki Reddy. Involvement of parents has also been a factor at times. “But for the betterment of the game, I think coaches should pair up players by seeing potential,” adds Reddy.
Serve, receive
In doubles, the first two shots can prove critical. The whole aim of doubles is to keep the shuttle as low as possible. Playing a shot high into the air is a cardinal sin. With doubles being a quick-paced game, the placement of the serve and return can immediately decide if your team wins the point or not. The quicker you force your opponent into a weaker shot, the greater chance you have to attack and win the point.
“I was very good at serving and receiving – which are very important in doubles,” Jwala Gutta had said in 2017. “If you observe all my matches, I used to make sure that I finish it. I could take advantage of my partner’s smash or my partner’s placing. Or I used to place it in such a way that my partner had an advantage.”
For youngsters, according to doubles coach Akshay Dewalkar, the first three strokes make up the bulk of their basic training. “How to serve, where to move, where to play the shuttle, that’s very important,” adds Dewalkar.
Trust and understanding
Trust yourself, trust your partner. That is the foundation of any partnership.
In doubles badminton, the roles of the two players are usually very well defined. While the attacking player hangs back to smash and finish off points, the defensive player stays at the net, controlling the pace and pattern of the rally. Do your job, and trust your partner to do hers.
“I would say focus on your game and what you could bring to your partnership,” says Ponnappa. “Don’t focus on what your partner isn’t doing – look at the positives. Watch and learn from top doubles players. Learn to understand what sort of game you like playing, what sort of game your partner plays. Which is your strong point? It’s very important to understand doubles. There’s a lot of information online on various doubles drills and techniques. In case you don’t have a specialised doubles coach, sit with your coach and watch a few videos and see what drills you could incorporate to improve your doubles game.”
Read between the moves
The coaching manual of the Badminton World Federation counts ‘open skills’ as a pre-requisite for the game. These open skills are defined as: “being able to adapt to the different challenges presented by their opponent’s strokes.” This ability to pick on playing patterns, strengths, and weaknesses quickly is decisive in doubles, since it gives the competitors little breathing space.
Moreover, doubles is a game of power and strength; one that is more suited to the lean, athletic East Asian body structure. That is the reason European and Indian players have often relied on movement and tactics when playing against more adept opponents.
“We are smart on the court,” says Ponnappa. “Strength and speed are important factors – and what a lot of players lack – which makes it difficult to match players from Asia. The Europeans are very good strategically. They play smart and to their advantage.”
Love thy labour
As important as the tweaks in training and tactics are to push you to become a good doubles player, none of it can sustain without absolute dedication to the craft. You have to be disciplined and diligent, push yourself in training and on the court to get the results.
However long it takes.
“Prepare for long rallies, have patience, be strong mentally,” says Sikki Reddy. “Love the game and your practice sessions, and always believe in yourself no matter what.”
Click here to read about Red Bull Shuttle Up – an exclusive women’s doubles-only badminton tournament.
To register to participate in Red Bull Shuttle Up, click here.
source: http://www.redbull.com / Redbull.com / Home / by Deepti Patwardhan
We head to where the beans grow in India to discover the country’s nuanced flavours.
Coffee berries left out for dry processing on a farm in Coorg, India. Bloomberg
It is still early in the evening, with a few hours to go before sunset, but all I can see outside is the swirling mist. When I had checked into at my resort a few hours earlier, the view from the balcony of my room was a lush carpet of green. Now, it’s white blanket. But I am not surprised. After all, this is Coorg, in south India, and I’m visiting during monsoon months, when the fog sweeps over as soon as there’s a break in the rain.
The scenery on my way from Bangalore changed dramatically once I entered the area; crowded highways turning into narrow lanes and commercial activity making way first for emerald paddy fields and then undulating hills dotted with seasonal waterfalls and sprawling plantations. It is obvious that Coorg is a blessed land; a variety of spices growing with abandon across this tiny region – pepper, cardamom, nutmeg, clove and even honey. The undisputed star of Coorg, though, is coffee.
Known in the local language as Kodagu, Coorg is part of the region in south India where coffee first arrived in the country. Legend has it that Sufi saint Baba Budan was delighted when he discovered coffee during a pilgrimage to Makkah, sometime in the 17th century. And on his way back, via the port of Yemen, he hid a few beans in the folds of his robes. As celebrated novelist R K Narayan wrote in his book A Storyteller’s World, “The origin of Indian coffee, thus, is saintly. It was not an empire builder or a buccaneer who brought coffee to India but a saint, one who knew what was good for humanity.”
“Indeed, he did,” I think, as I sip on the frothy brew at the coffee shop of The Tamara resort the next morning. Located within a functioning organic coffee plantation, the property is proof of how easily coffee travelled from Baba Budan’s base in the town of Chikmagalur to nearby Coorg, and how well it flourished in the wet, hilly landscapes there. The Coffee Board of India estimates that more than 70 per cent of the country’s beans are grown in Karnataka, almost entirely in Chikmagalur and Coorg, and are used for both domestic consumption and exports to Europe.
he fresh fruit that bears the beans. Bloomberg
The cup is my reward at the end of a two-hour walk through the coffee estate with Sareesh Kumar, the resident naturalist who seems to know the names and qualities of practically every plant on the trail. The rain has let up for the morning, and I am exhilarated by the hike through a thick canopy of silveroak and rosewood trees with pepper vines snaking around their tall trunks. Sunlight barely filters into the Arabica and Robusta shrubs all along the path, and the air is crisp and refreshing.
Kumar extols the moody nature of the coffee plant that demands great care and attention along with shade, and describes the taste differences between a brew made from Arabica and Robusta beans. I listen to him with half an ear as I lean towards the plump fruit in the vain hope of smelling coffee. He smiles at my enthusiasm, saying the berry has a long way to go before it reveals its true colours, or in this case, aromas and flavours.
And then it’s quiz time: “What does the coffee flower smell like?” he asks me. I know enough by now not to say “coffee” but I take a lame stab at the response anyway. It turns out, it’s jasmine. That’s what the sneaky coffee flower smells and even looks like.
It is an easy walk, with caterpillars and leeches, parakeets and hornbills, waterfalls and streams for company all the way. Before we know it, we fetch up in front of the small cafe that doubles as souvenir shop. It’s time for the “Blossom to brew” lesson. I learn to select, roast and powder my own coffee beans. Ah, finally, that aroma I have been dreaming of. And then I get to make my own drink. The south Indian in me can allow nothing other than local filter kaapi (a strong drip decoction lightened with hot milk and sugar) and I sit back to enjoy what I consider my personal blend.
On my way back home, I take a detour for a slice of Tibet. Bylakuppe is the second-largest hub – after Dharamshala – for Tibetan monks in India who followed in the footsteps of their spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, some 60 years ago.
The cluster of monasteries, stupas and residential areas (divided into old and new Camp) was built in the early 1970s on land given as a gift to the community by the king of Mysore. The most famous of these temples is the Namdroling Monastery with its golden roof (it’s also known as the Golden Temple), that beckons to visitors from a great distance. Turning off the main road, we drive through dusty lanes where the only colour is that of prayer flags fluttering in the morning breeze and the maroon and yellow robes of monks walking in small groups or riding their motorbikes with great style.
A monastery in Bylakuppe, a hub for Tibetan monks in India. Charukesi Ramadurai
While the tourist crowds throng the premises of the temple, taking photographs from all angles, bargaining raucously with local vendors and arguing over where to find the best thukpa and momos in the neighbourhood, it is a completely silent tableau inside. There are three gigantic gilded statues of Buddha, in his states as Shakyamuni, Padmasambhava and Amitayus. On one side of the room, I spot a row of monks poring over their scripture books and chanting in low tones. On my walk around the monastery, I come across another group of monks – young, barely in their teens – engaged in a boisterous game of cricket. I realise then that this Tibetan community here is much like coffee itself: both are settlers from another country who have made Coorg home.
Of course, there is more to Coorg than coffee. History residing in the old temples and ruined forts near the town of Madikeri and adventure that ranges from easy treks to canoe rides all over the region. Then there are the popular picnic spots like the perennial Abbey Falls, the Dubare Elephant Camp and the Talacauvery shrine, from where the River Cauvery (held sacred by locals) originates.
But I ignore all these attractions to stay put in my room, watching the clouds play hide and seek with the green hills.
source: http://www.thenational.ae / The National / Home> Lifestyle> Travel / by Charukesi Ramadurai / October 18th, 2018
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