10,000 hectares to be covered by Nagaland for coffee plantations

The Nagaland government is undertaking coffee plantations on nearly 10,000 hectares of land. The organic beverage grown in the state is now being exported to European and Middle East countries, an official said.

Around 8,412.49 hectares and 1,419.7 hectares of land are covered by plantations of Arabica and Robusta coffee respectively. The state government has set a target to cover 50,000 hectares of land by 2030.

With Nagaland having a micro-climatic condition, the soil is very suitable for coffee, the official claimed.

Coffee plantation was first started in Nagaland in the early 1990s but it was not a success then as there was no market linkage with the project, the official said.

The Additional Director of Lease Rental Discounting (LRD) Albert Ngullie said that in October 2014 the State government resumed the revival of coffee plantations throughout the state with Land Resources Development (LRD) as the nodal agency and now the organic coffee grown in this hill state is being exported.

Kohima district has the highest coverage of 2649.69 hectares of land while Zunheboto district has 1025.9 hectares of land under organic coffee plantations.

He said that their target is to make it a successful plantation and the farmers have to benefit under the post-COVID economic recovery plan supported by the North Eastern Council (NEC). 360 coffee pulping machines were procured and distributed across the state.

The pulper caters to about 1,000 hectares of coffee plantation clusters in the state which are at the threshold stage for bearing cherries, he said.

The LRD is carrying out coffee plantation activities with the support of the state government and the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) while the technical and management support has come from the Coffee Board. Adding to that, it is informed that even the seeds are produced from Coffee Board-certified nurseries.

The Coffee Board has been supporting the department in providing training to the farmers and also conducting exposure trips to other states. The Board has also been supporting the coffee growers with government-added subsidies through direct benefit transfers.

The Joint Director LRD Banchamo Ngullie said plantation, quality production and market linkage are being looked into by the department.

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