Initiative to double coffee growers’ income

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

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