Plan to start mega coffee processing unit in Araku

 Vijayawada: Steps are being taken to promote the Araku coffee, grown in the Araku region of the state, especially in Alluri Sitarama Raju and Parvathipuram and Manyam districts.

Chief secretary K.S. Jawahar Reddy reviewed the problems of Araku coffee cultivators, the marketing facilities and other issues at a meeting he held at the state secretariat with officials on Wednesday.

He asked the officials to prepare and send a project report for the establishment of a mega processing unit there, so that the coffee crop can be processed in the same way as the groundnut and tomato processing units have been doing in the Rayalaseema area.

He said steps would be taken for a tie-up with multinationals like Tata to market the product nationally and internationally.

Nature Farming secretary, Vijaya Kumar, said talks would be held with various organisations to provide national and international marketing facilities for Araku coffee. He also advised the authorities to prepare a project report for establishment of the mega processing unit there.

Alluri Sitaramaraju district collector Sumeeth Kumar gave a powerpoint presentation on Araku coffee cultivation, the area, processing, marketing etc through a video link. He said that at present Araku coffee is being cultivated in an area of more than a lakh acres.

He said Araku coffee is currently being grown in 11 mandals. The GCC is buying the crop from tribal farmers and selling it in the form of packets, cans etc through retail marketing stores across the state.

Ventaka Murali, director, and other officials of the tribal welfare department participated in this meeting, while GCC VC and MD Suresh Kumar, Parvathipuram Manyam collector Nishanth Kumar, state food sanitation organization CEO Sridhar Reddy and others participated in the discussions via video link.