THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Giving momentum to the carbon neutral farming project of the state government, the Industries Department has now assigned Kinfra to acquire 100 acres at Variad near Vythiri. Further, Kinfra was also told to set up a similar venture to produce carbon neutral tea in Wayanad for which at least 200 acres is required. An office for starting the preliminary work on the land acquisition like surveying the identified locations was inaugurated on Saturday in Wayanad.
Speaking to Express, senior Industries Department officers said the carbon neutral coffee project involves distributing around 1.5 crore coffee saplings among the coffee growers in the hill district and setting up a coffee powder manufacturing unit and its value-added products at Variad, for which the state government has allotted Rs150 crore.
The carbon neutral tea project would also be implemented in a similar manner and the farmers who engage in both projects will be given financial incentives to integrate plants for developing resilience to climate change. Kinfra Managing Director K A Santhosh Kumar said the project would be implemented in public private partnership mode with the state government having 26 per cent equity and the rest would be given to farmers, farmer bodies, individuals, etc.
The detailed project report for the project would be prepared by Kinfra, he said.
The project envisages starting the carbon neutral coffee production in three years as the coffee saplings to be distributed among the farmers will be mature enough to be harvested in three years, said officers. Since there are a lot of international companies looking to own carbon credits, which is a type of a tradable greenhouse gas emission reduction unit issued to projects under the Kyoto protocol, the certified carbon neutral produces like coffee and tea or their value products will have high demand in the international market, said Industry Department officials.
For instance, if the certified carbon neutral products like coffee or tea are priced at Rs 5,000 per kg in the international market, there would be companies to buy the produces. So, this will not only be a weapon in the fight against the carbon, but will create employment and provide more income for farmers, they added.
The state government had announced in the last budget that it would be setting up the first carbon neutral coffee park and industries exclusively catering to the goal of making the state carbon neutral in Wayanad, giving cheers to the coffee growers in the region. The products manufactured in the industrial units will also be marketed under the brand name Malabar Coffee.
An office for starting preliminary work on the land acquisition like surveying the identified locations was inaugurated on Saturday in Wayanad.
The carbon neutral coffee project involves distributing around 1.5 crore coffee saplings among the coffee growers in the hill district and setting up a coffee powder manufacturing unit and its value-added products at Variad, for which the state government has allotted I150 crore, says an officer.