VISAKHAPATNAM: Thousands of coffee farmers (tribals) in parts of the Alluri Sitharama Raju (ASR) district will receive remunerative prices for their produce as the Girijan Cooperative Corporation (GCC) decided to increase the coffee procurement prices for the 2024-25 season.
It may be recalled that GCC Chairman Kidari Sravan Kumar announced the price of coffee procurement from tribal coffee farmers for the year 2024-25 at Rs285 per kg for Arabica Parchment, Rs150 per kg for Arabica Cherry, and Rs80 per kg for Robusta Cherry coffee.
However, keeping in view the increasing coffee prices in domestic and international markets and to safeguard the interests of tribal coffee growers, it was decided to increase the coffee procurement prices to Rs320 per kg for Arabica Parchment, Rs170 per kg for Arabica Cherry, and Rs100 per kg for Robusta Cherry.
Coffee farming is transforming the hilly tribal-dominated villages of Andhra Pradesh’s ASR district. It is bringing about a qualitative change in the lives of thousands of tribal families.
The total area under coffee cultivation in the ASR district has increased because of the demand for coffee beans in the domestic and international markets.
The area under coffee cultivation in tribal pockets has increased to over 2.4 lakh acres. The tribals grow Arabica variety coffee due to its suitability for the land, and they adhere to organic practices, taking meticulous steps to ensure quality.
The GCC Chairman instructed the staff to ensure that all tribal coffee farmers are made aware of the new prices of their coffee produce. He further urged the farmers not to sell their coffee for less than the announced rates.
He also stated that the GCC has taken many steps to visit the remote areas to collect coffee directly from the farmers using electronic weighing machines to ensure accurate measurements.
As per the estimate, the ASR district produces around 12,000 to 15,000 tonnes of coffee in a year. The harvesting of coffee has started and will continue for some more weeks.
A decade ago, I started coffee farming for the first time. For me, it was a new crop whose result I wasn’t aware of. Now, we get a profit of Rs30,000 to Rs50,000 in a year by selling the coffee beans, said Ch Suresh, a coffee grower in the ASR district.
We have been demanding to increase the MSP to meet the rising expenses; finally, the GCC hiked the procurement price of the coffee, he added.
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