Tata to sell Odisha's Koraput coffee sourced from Odia tribes in global market

One of the largest Indian coffee marketers, Tata Coffee, is all prepped to market coffee beans sourced from Odisha's Koraput Coffee plantations. The Koraput Coffee production is mainly done by Odisha's tribal communities. The purchase deal ensures marketing of the tribal-dominated Koraput district's coffee across the country and the world, Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik said.

A new ray of hope for tribal coffee producers

The announcement of the deal comes a day before Odisha observed the International World's Indigenous People's Day. This deal undertaken by Tata Coffee in collaboration with the state government's OdishaCare initiative will serve as a boost to the tribal coffee producers. "TataCompanies is going to start selling Koraput Coffee while maintaining its uniqueness.  This is a new ray of hope for Koraput coffee farmers," a tweet by CM Patnaik reads when roughly translated from Odia. The cooperation will also secure the prosperity of the socio-economic condition of the coffee planters and boost living conditions and welfare-related assistance. It is observed as a crucial step in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, he added.

Strengths of the Koraput Coffee district

Tata Coffee, for the first time, is promoting Odisha's flavour-rich Koraput Coffee. The beans are said to be exquisite since grown in higher altitudes and cool temperatures. The climate and the constant effort of the indigenous people have produced a locally grown refreshing arabica coffee. The 100% arabica coffee plantation is spread across Laxmipur, Kashipur, Dasmantpur, Nandpur, Lamtaput, Koraput, Potangi and Nandpur blocks. This year around 28,790 KG of Coffee Cherry was procured from 193 numbers of tribal farmers. “We had sent samples of the Koraput coffee to Tata Coffee. The company found its quality to be very good,” said Tribal Development Co-operative Corporation of Odisha Limited (TDCCOL) Managing Director Mansi Nimbhal.

Koraput Coffee is a single-origin speciality coffee produced by Odia tribal communities. It has already gained prominence through the e-commerce platform. It is marketed as 'Koraput Coffee' and has achieved much acceptance from consumers across India. Appreciating the excellence persevered by farmers, CM Patnaik has lauded farmers like Sulochana Khar. A resident of Kasampadar village has received special mention for her commitment to maintaining the popularity of 'Koraput Coffee'.  "She has become a successful farmer by selling more than 200 kg of coffee fruit to TDCCOL," CM said in this statement. Amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, the coffee farmers have been able to strengthen the socio-economic status of indigenous farmers, he added.

Odisha Government's coffee patronage

As per CM Patnaik and TDCCOL officials, the Odisha government has granted about 46,000 acres of forest land for coffee farmers. The land has been allotted under the Forest Rights Act to tribals till June this year for coffee plantations. Following this, TDCCOL in the fiscal year 2020-2021 cumulated about 28,790 kilograms of coffee beans. Aiming for bigger produce, the state government is promoting Koraput coffee and the SC and ST department is making a strategy to increase the area under coffee cultivation and thereby benefit the tribal livelihoods, Nimbhal said.

Following this, the department looks forward to extracting bigger production than the last year as "training and capacity building on the coffee growers has been started in early phases starting from pre-harvest management with the help of TDCCOL and SLO Coffee Board."

(With inputs from PTI)

(Image: Unsplash/ representative)