Encourage tribal ryots to grow coffee

Tribal Welfare Principal Secretary visits GCC coffee purchasing centres

Visakhapatnam: Principal Secretary of Tribal Welfare A Vidya Sagar asked the ITDA officials to encourage tribal farmers to cultivate coffee using organic manure as the coffee grown in Visakha Agency has attained global recognition.

GCC Managing Director ASPS Ravi Prakash, along with ITDA Project Officer M Harinarayanan, paid a visit to one of the GCC coffee purchasing centres at Minumuluru village in the mandal on Saturday. Later, he interacted with Kimudu Padmavathi, a farmer.

He enquired about the yield, expenditure and the difference between previous method of selling coffee and the present system. With the government’s decision of directly purchasing crop through the GCC has helped the farmers, she pointed out.

The government has launched the coffee project with Rs 526 crore in the Agency to benefit the tribal farmers, Vidya Sagar informed. Presently, one lakh farmers are growing coffee, he added.

Plans are afoot to increase coffee crop cultivation from three to four lakh acres in seven years, he said. Another farmer Kondababu told Vidya Sagar that earlier he used to sell his crop to the middlemen at Rs 100 to Rs 120 per kg and now he was getting Rs 70 extra per kg.

Later, Vidya Sagar visited another coffee purchasing centre at Chittempadu village in Hukumpet mandal where one B Karribabu told him that he procured 1,500 kgs of coffee from seven acres using organic manure.

He also interacted with the self-help group members in the village and enquired about their savings and financial status. He asked a Mini- Anganwadi worker about the food to be given to the kids at Anganwadi Centres daily.

The principal secretary examined the coffee godown at Hukumpet and the construction of GCC petrol bunk. GCC Financial Advisor Radha Krishna, Coffee Crop Advisor Mahesh, GCC divisional manager Mohan Rao, manager S Bhaskar Rao and ITDA Horticulture Officer K Chittibabu were also present.