Date:23/12/2007 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2007/12/23/stories/2007122357850700.htm

Andhra Pradesh

A cup of joy for them

B. Madhu Gopal

A product of Girijans in the Visakha agency has a great demand in the international market and it is fetching the premium price.

—Photo: C.V. Subrahmanyam

Araku Emerald coffee which gets Rs.500 for 250 gm in the international market.

VISAKHAPATNAM: A 200 gm packet of coffee powder costs Rs.500. Surprised? It is not an imported variety but our own one grown by Girijans in the Visakha agency area that is fetching the premium price in the international market.

Thanks to the efforts of Naandi Foundation, the ‘Araku Emerald’ has already bagged export orders valued at Rs.200 crores and it is seen as a God-send opportunity to bring about a noticeable change in the lives of Girijan coffee growers.

There are 8,000 growers cultivating as many acres of land in Araku, Anantagiri, Dumbriguda and Hukumpeta mandals. The Naandi Foundation has given training to these growers in preparation of the best organic coffee and better marketing techniques. A coffee processing plant was set up at Turaiguda village near Araku and handed over to the cooperative society.

“In the past, we used to take the beans, after drying, to the depot at Paderu. The stocks used to be stored there till buyers purchased them. Now a lorry picks up the beans from our doorstep and takes it for pulping. Our income has also increased two-fold,” said Killo Kondala Rao, a grower from Turaiguda.

No middlemen

“We are getting Rs.90 per kg of beans as against Rs.25 to Rs.65 in the past. Further, the problem of middlemen exploiting the situation has ended after Naandi took over the responsibility of marketing,” said Killo Madhuri of Malaisingupuram village.

Organic coffee means better prices to growers and better health to consumers. Araku coffee has been judged as the world’s best coffee due to the use of organic fertilisers. Though the coffee growers of the agency area have been using bio-fertilizers by default, Naandi has certified it as such and provided the much-needed value addition.

Union Minister of State for Commerce Jairam Ramesh, who launched the brand at Turaiguda on Friday, has announced that all the 11 coffee-producing mandals in the agency would be converted into an ‘organic’ zone.