SPREADING THE AROMA OF INDIAN COFFEE: EMPOWERING SMALL COFFEE GROWERS AND ENCOURAGING SOCIALLY RESPONSIBLE COFFEE

Introduction:
Indian coffee is the most extraordinary of beverages, offering intriguing subtlety and stimulating intensity. India is the only country that grows all of its coffee under shade. Typically mild and not too acidic, these coffees possess an exotic full-bodied taste and a fine aroma. Coffee in India is more than an agricultural export product; it is also a social, institutional and cultural fabric that is at the heart of the rural societies in the traditional coffee growing areas such as Karnataka, Kerala, and Tamil Nadu and in the emerging areas in the tribal belt of Andhra Pradesh/Orissa and North-East India. It offers work opportunities to thousands and in areas where there is no alternative occupation. It is also an indispensable part of a fragile eco system in the Western and Eastern Ghats.

Objectives:

• Strengthening small coffee growers' organizations in India and building their capacity to work together in alliances with other organizations
• Advocating with different stakeholders for implementing the recommendations arrived at in the Wayanad Declaration
• Introducing various social and environmental standards and financially sound processing to secure the greatest possible price increases for small coffee growers
• Facilitating coffee marketing to help improve the small growers’ bargaining power and thus yield better income for the growers

PRAKRUTHI BRINGS THE MARKET TO THE GROWERS
. Prakruthi organized a meeting on Sustainable Marketing at Bangalore for small coffee growers from Kerala and Coorg. This meeting helped in establishing linkages between small coffee growers and buyers.

OUTCOME:

• Baseline survey and Group profiles were collected
• stakeholders informal meetings organized in Kattappana, Kerala
• stakeholders meeting organized in Coorg
• Initiated work in lower Palani Hills area for Base scan study, data collection and field work
• Group profiles are collected from Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu.
• Established rapport and partnership with CPA
• Facilitated for UTZ Certified Coffee for producers group in association with NED COMMODITIES PVT LTD, Kushalnagar, Coorg.
• Organized a National level Coffee growers’ workshop for empowering small coffee growers and workers to realise fairer terms of trade in the coffee industry