GCC seeks wider overseas market for Araku coffee

The Girijan Cooperative Corporation (GCC) is working to secure wider international recognition and expand overseas markets for coffee produced by tribal farmers in the Araku Valley, its chairman Kidari Sravan Kumar said on Thursday. Mr. Sravan Kumar was speaking at a special International Coffee Day programme held at the GCC’s Arabica Araku Valley Coffee Café in East Point Colony, Visakhapatnam.

Free Araku coffee was served to customers during the event. He said the State government was supporting efforts to promote Araku coffee internationally. He also said Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s reference to Araku coffee in his Mann Ki Baat programme had increased its recognition across India.

Mr. Sravan Kumar thanked Deputy Chief Minister K. Pawan Kalyan and Tribal Welfare Minister Gummidi Sandhyarani for supporting the effort to promote the coffee globally.

He said Araku coffee had been introduced in international cities, including Paris, and at Davos as part of efforts to build overseas markets. The GCC chairman said stronger international acceptance would give tribal coffee farmers better access to markets. He added that improved market access could help raise farmers’ incomes.

The source material does not provide details of export volumes, prices or specific new overseas contracts. The GCC’s programme focused on coffee produced in the Araku Valley and the corporation’s role in promoting it. Its account linked international recognition with the economic prospects of the tribal farmers who grow the crop.

The event in Visakhapatnam combined public promotion with the corporation’s wider stated objective of taking Araku coffee to more international consumers. Mr. Sravan Kumar’s comments did not specify a timeline for achieving that expansion or identify particular markets beyond the locations mentioned.