The Coffee Board of India is an organization managed by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry of the government of India to promote coffee production in India. Its head office is in Bengaluru.
The Coffee Board has launched Blockchain based coffee e-marketplace. This is a pilot project which is likely to help integrate the farmers with markets in a transparent manner and lead to realization of fair price for the coffee producer. It will also reduce the number of layers between the coffee growers and the buyers, and help farmers double their income. India is the only country in the world where entire coffee is grown under shade, handpicked and sun dried.
Coffee is produced in India by small coffee growers, tribal farmers adjacent to the National Parks and the Wildlife Sanctuaries in the Western and Eastern Ghats, which are two of the major biodiversity hot spots in the world. Indian coffee is highly valued in the world market and sold as premium coffee. However, the share of the farmers in the final returns from coffee is very meagre.
Blockchain based market place app for trading of Indian coffees is intended to bring in transparency in the trade of Indian coffee, maintain the traceability of Indian coffee from bean to cup, so as the consumer tastes real Indian coffee, the grower is paid fairly for his coffee produced. This initiative will reduce grower’s dependency on intermediaries by providing direct access to the buyers at a fair price for their produce. The initiative will also help coffee producers find exporters within the stipulated time to meet the growing demands and in building greater trust through increased transparency.
Coffee growing regions in India can be grouped under the following categories:
• Traditional areas, representing the southern states of Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu.
• Non-traditional areas, comprising Andhra Pradesh and Odisha in the Eastern Ghats of the country.
The plantations in the south are the cradle of Indian coffee. They include the Bababudangiris in Karnataka, known as the birthplace of coffee in India. The Eastern Ghats and the north-eastern states are newly developed areas of coffee.
