Nagaland coffee farmers interact with Coffee Board of India members

Dimapur, July 20 (EMN): In an attempt to encourage coffee cultivation in Dimapur district, the district office of Land Resources, Dimapur conducted a one-day coffee workshop on coffee farming on July 19 at LRD Resources Centre, Ruzaphema village.
According to the department, the climatic condition of Dimapur is apt for coffee cultivation.
Director of department of Land Resources, Nagaland T Renben Lotha and Joint Director (extension), Coffee Board of India, Guwahati, Dr. Tasveem Ahmed Shoeeb graced the workshop as special guests, informed a press release received here on Saturday.

Speaking on the occasion, Lotha lauded the Land Resources, Dimapur for conducting the workshop. He stated that the department has taken up coffee with a very focused objective – ‘functional ecological economy’.

Stating that coffee is one of the best options to stabilise the farming system, he maintained it took extensive awareness campaign to create the interest of taking up coffee farming among the people. However, he pointed out that support in terms of physical presence, technical and financial assistance from the Coffee Board of India and other concerned agencies is needed to sustain coffee farming.

Lotha rued the categorisation of traditional and non-traditional farming areas, saying that it discourages the farmers. He was also of the view that any area can be transformed into a traditional farming area if enough support is given by the concerned agencies or departments.

The director urged the Coffee Board of India to extend more support to make Nagaland one of the traditional coffee growing areas in the country. He disclosed that targeted area for coffee cultivation is 50, 000 hectares and has so far covered 5000 hectares. He also assured the Board that “the department is always ready to work with the board for the economic uplift.”

Giving an overall view of coffee sector in the country, Shoeeb said coffee is an important commercial crop with 75 percent of coffee produced by India being exported to other countries, thus opening up the avenue for the farmers in the country to earn good revenue. He informed that coffee is 2nd largest industry in the world after oil industry and India is the fourth largest coffee producing country.

Stating that Land Resources department in Nagaland is actively promoting coffee cultivation in Nagaland, he urged the coffee growers of the state to cultivate it in large scale and not to worry about the market as it is already in place. Puvil Likhi, deputy director and supervisory officer for Dimapur district, Land Resources, also said that farmers can get easy access to the market.

Delivering the keynote address, I Acato Chishi, district project officer, Land Resources Dimapur, said that Coffee Board of India should give more importance to Nagaland so that farmers can take up coffee farming in a big way and thus boost the industry and help improve their economic status.

He said that the primary objective of conducting the workshop was to allow the coffee farmers of Dimapur to understand and realise the vast potentiality coffee plantation in the State. It was also organised to give the farmers a platform to place their problems directly to the members of Coffee Board of India and seek solutions.

More than 30 coffee farmers from Dimapur district participated in the workshop chaired by Imnuksungla Jamir, WDTM, LRD, Dimapur.

Resource persons for the technical session were Kimiyekato Shohe, WDTM, LRD, Dimapur; Partha Pratim Choudury, Deputy Director (Extension) Coffee Board of India, Jorhat, Assam; and Bijaya Barman, Officer In-charge of RCRS, Diphu, Assam.