Growers told to take up aggressive marketing of tea, coffee

The 129^th Annual Conference of the United Planters’ Association of South India (UPASI) got underway on Monday at its headquarters in Coonoor with various industry experts exhorting growers to focus on innovation, value-addition, branding, and promotion to improve their realisations.

Rakesh Mohan Joshi, Director, Indian Institute of Plantation Management-Bengaluru (IIPM-B), called upon UPASI members to take up aggressive overseas marketing and branding of plantation produce such as tea and coffee, on the lines of the California Almonds and Washington Apples.

While the market presence of UPASI is missing, Joshi said growers should unite and fund the marketing of their produce and not depend on the Government for support.

Importing more than exporting

Making a presentation on the Global Dynamics and Transforming Indian Plantations, Joshi said despite being the largest producer of products such as pepper and cinnamon, India is still a net importer of these spices, Joshi said adding that the country imports more fruits than it exports. Factors such as productivity, supply chain and wastage in the supply chain are challenge. By 2032, India will be the largest importer of agri produce as the market is huge, he said.

India has competitive advantage in spices and tea, when compared to other producers, which growers should take advantage. In crops like rubber there is no competitive advantage, while in coffee it has reduced, he said.

Gurmeet Singh, Professor and Head, Trans-Disciplinary University, Bengaluru, speaking on “Innovating Tea – Past, Present and Future Perspectives” said innovations to fit modern lifestyles will cover new opportunities created by evolving consumers and marketplace.

MP Cherian, President, UPASI, said deliberations are aimed at quality improvement, innovation, differentiation of teas and coffee at the estate level and marketing strategies to improve the profitability of the commodity. All these commodity prices have been on the decline for years and our fortunes are tied to the supply shocks that are due to either unfavourable climate events or political unrest in other countries. Besides, inflation is pushing up the input prices, as a result of which growers are facing a tightening cost structure.

Current focus

Now the focus is more on improving quality, branding and promotion. “What we need is more variety and higher quality. Union Government needs to come out with more funding for R&D. Climate change is getting more and more risky with unseasonal rains and drought. We need to increase R&D spend to come out with high productivity and disease resistant clone and improve branding in the market,” Cherian said.

Coffee Board CEO and Secretary KG Jagadeesha said the value addition in coffee, the way forward as volatility in prices has become an important challenge resulting in huge distress for growers.

Making a presentation on Good Harvest Practices, Marcelo Pereira Magnere, Coffee Consultant, Chile, shared his experience on improving quality of the produce.

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