File photo for representational purpose.
Credit: Reuters photo
Chikkamagaluru: The Coffee Board of India has set an ambitious target of doubling coffee production in India to 7 lakh metric tonnes by 2047 from the present level of 3.5 lakh metric tonnes.
The share of specialty coffee will be 15 per cent of the total proposed production, said M J Dinesh, Chairman of the Coffee Board.
As part of this target, the board has drawn up an action plan for implementation over the next five years starting 2026-27, he said.
Addressing the members of the Karnataka Planters Association (KPA), here on Tuesday, Dinesh said, “The Central Coffee Research Institute under the Coffee Board will soon release three new high-yielding, pest-resistant coffee varieties for cultivation across the state. The CCRI is celebrating its centenary year this month and to mark the occasion, the new varieties will be released.”
Founded in 1925, CCRI has developed a coffee germplasm collection with 400 varieties. In the last one hundred years, CCRI has released 13 Arabica varieties and 3 Robusta varieties for cultivation in the state, he said.
“The target can be achieved in multiple ways. We have to go for area expansion as well as improving the productivity of the existing plantations. About 1 lakh hectares of new area is being added under coffee cultivation in non-traditional areas such as Odisha. Nagaland will also be adding a new area under coffee. Currently, about 4 lakh hectares is cultivated for growing coffee,” Dinesh told DH.
The productivity can be enhanced by addressing important elements in the coffee chain from soil to marketing, productivity, water and nutrients. We have to educate growers to use appropriate nutrients so that their productivity increases, he said.
The Coffee Board aims to spend an average of Rs 300 crore per annum to take up various activities over the next five years. “We will be discussing with the various stakeholders to come out with a suitable action plan,” he added.
Stating that the Board is ready to subsidise the weeding machine, Dines told the growers to make use of it.
Inaugurating the 67th annual general meeting of KPA, here, K J George, minister of energy, government of Karnataka advised coffee planters to learn a lesson from the tribal coffee growers of Araku Valley in Andhra Pradesh which have popularised their coffee under ‘Araku’ brand.
“The fragmentation of coffee growers in Karnataka is preventing them from coming out with a common brand,” he said.
Bhaskar Bhat, Director of Tata Sons, and former MD of Titan Ltd asked growers to focus on the domestic market which has a large and young aspiring population ready to consume premium and specialty coffee instead of worrying about exporting to Europe or America.
“The consumption in Europe is not growing as much as in India where the young population with a growing income is now looking to consume more and more specialty coffee and premium products,” he said.
Arvind Rao, Chairman of KPA urged the government to set up a separate directorate for plantation crops on the model of Kerala so as to address the concerns of the sector.
Currently, planters run around between the department of labour, industries and commerce, etc for addressing their issues.