IDUKKI: After jaggery and garlic, Idukki’s Anchunadu has once again won global acclaim as the coffee produced at Keezhanthoor village of Kanthalloor panchayat known as ‘Keezhanthoor coffee’ has found a place in the fifth edition of World Coffee Conference organised for the first time in India. The conference began in Bengaluru on Monday.
The tribal artisanal coffee, planted largely by the tribal women of Keezhanthoor in the highlands of the village located at an altitude of 5,000 ft above sea level, holds the rarity of having distinct flavours and aromas compared to other Arabica coffee varieties. It is grown amid fruit plantations and sandalwood forests in the village, located in the rain shadow area of Western Ghats.
The coffee is being displayed at the international expo at the stall managed by Plantrich Agritech Pvt Ltd, a company exporting organic spices from Kerala to global markets, as an artisanal coffee travelling worldwide.
“It was in October 2014 that the Manarcadu Social Service Society (MASS) jointly with Plantrich Agritech Pvt Ltd, made Keezhanthoor a certified organic coffee village and started procuring coffee beans from farmers to export it globally,” Plantrich CEO Sreekumar M S told TNIE.
He said that, until then, coffee beans were procured from farmers by middlemen who used to exploit farmers by paying them a paltry sum. “Keezhanthoor coffee carries the peculiarities of the land from where it comes. As the fragmented plantations are located amid apple, orange orchards and sandalwood forest, Keezhanthoor coffee has a distinct flavour which has been confirmed by experts through rigorous cupping process,” he said.
The specialty coffee is grown in the village by as many as 294 families most of them tribal people. “Coffee cultivation has a history of nearly half a century in Keezhanthoor. However as the produce did not fetch good profits for farmers due to the exploitation by middlemen, many withdrew from cultivation over the years. However the intervention of MASS kept the production of the crop alive and Keezhanthoor has nearly 150 hectares of land under coffee cultivation now,” Sivakumar, a farmer said.
“Despite MASS ensuring better price for farmers, it has never compelled them to sell their produce only to us. When the market price for ripe beans came down below Rs 45 per kg last year, MASS ensured a Rs 50 per kilogram to farmers,” an official attached to MASS said.
Since growing coffee plants and harvesting the crop are exclusively done by tribal women employing the traditional farming methods of the tribal community, Plantrich is checking the possibility of marketing it under the brand name “Keezhanthoor women tribal coffee’ in international markets. Six tribal women farmers will showcase the coffee at the four-day event being held at Banglore Palace.