VISAKHAPATNAM: In their move to make Araku Coffee more popular, Girijan Cooperative Corporation (GCC), with the support of ITDA, launched ‘Paderu coffee project’ to make coffee powder widely available in the retail market. The officials have planned coffee plantations on one lakh acres in the Paderu region with an investment of Rs 526 crore over a decade. The coffee would be sold under the ‘brand’ name of ‘Araku Valley’ coffee in the market.
Launching the coffee project in the city Sunday, Social and Tribal Welfare minister Ravela Kishore Babu said that the coffee project, promoted by the State government, would be of much help to the gullible tribal coffee growers, who are being exploited by middlemen. According to him, the coffee farmers are not getting proper support price and sufficient income for their hard work. “Coffee of Visakhapatnam agency has huge demand. But the farmers who are growing it are not getting good income because they are at the mercy of middlemen. The middlemen don’t offer enough price to the product and they charge high interest rates on the loans they avail,” said Ravela Kishore Babu.
According to him, around Rs 700 crore of farmers’ money was looted by middlemen in the last 10 years. He also said that the initiative by the government would eliminate middlemen and introduce better market facilities for the coffee growers.
The minister also said that around one lakh coffee growing farmers would benefit from the project. The money will be credited to the farmers’ bank accounts directly without the intervention of middlemen. The minister also said that initially the GCC would buy 2,000 tonnes of coffee beans worth Rs 25 crore for production of coffee at the rate of Arabica Parchment coffee at Rs 180 a kg and Arabica cherry coffee at Rs 92 a kg, which is double the price offered by traders. The minister also mentioned that in the near future, they would try to include more farmers as well as more area in the project. On the occasion, the minister collected coffee bean samples from the farmers.