Special Purpose Coffee Fund on the anvil to help growers

Bangalore, Feb 23 (UNI) A Special Purpose Coffee Fund, on the lines of the one introduced for tea plantations, is on the anvil to ensure replantation and rejuvenation of coffee in 80,000 hectares in the country, Union Minister of State for Commerce Jairam Ramesh announced today.

Presiding over the inauguration of the three-day International Coffee Festival organised by the Coffee Board here, he said the Coffee Board had forwarded a report prepared by the SBI Capital wing in this regard. Based on the report, the Centre would be moved to set up a fund involving Rs 800 crore, including Rs 400 crore from the coffee growers, for the purpose.

Likening the plantation industry to politics, he said in a lighter vein that both were aged in the country and needed rejuvenation.

Mr Ramesh said the Government would allow replanting of tea in two lakh hectares and would soon distribute loans to tea growers for replanting as announced last year.

He said a high-level expert group, headed by senior bureaucrat N Rangachary, had submitted its report and it was available online for public viewing. Market based insurance programme would be focussed over the next five years and Government action could be seen over the next few weeks in this regard, he assured.

Terming 2006 as a revival of sorts, the Minister said the year heralded a turnaround for Indian coffee. The unit price realisation was around Rs 78,000 per ton as against Rs 49,000 five years ago.

Besides, coffee production touched three lakh tons and on the export front too, India sold 25,000 tons to Italy. However, the growth in countries like Russia, Germany, Belgium and Spain remained stagnant.

Concerted efforts were needed to revive fortunes and step up growth in these countries, in addition to addressing non-traditional markets such as Japan, Ukraine, France and the Middle East, he felt.

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