A cup of organic coffee, grown by Girijans in the picturesque Araku valley in the eastern ghats of Visakhapatnam district, will be offered to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to cheer him up, when he visits the International Fleet Review (IFR) village here in the first week of February. The Prime Minister is also scheduled to visit the city during the occasion.

The IFR is being conducted here by the Indian Navy from February 4-8 and ships from several countries will participate in it. The President will review the fleet. the Prime Minister is also scheduled to visit the city during the IFR.

CM’s initiative

The rich aroma of Araku Coffee, vended by the Girijan Cooperative Corporation (GCC), drew appreciation from Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu, Governor ESL Narasimhan and Union Minister Anant Kumar during the recent Sunrise AP Partnership Summit.

The Chief Minister wanted the GCC to set up a similar vending shop at the IFR Village during the forthcoming IFR and serve the rich aromatic brew of the 100 per cent organic coffee cultivated by over 1 lakh tribals in the Agency area of the district, it is learnt.

The Prime Minister would be spending some time at the Maritime Exhibition at the IFR Village on AU Engineering College grounds and he would be served the brew.

Sustainable tribal coffee

GCC Araku Coffee is the country’s first brand of sustainable tribal coffee by using largely organic inputs. The GCC has undertaken to provide marketing support to the tribal coffee farmers by procuring and selling the coffee classified by the Coffee Board as Araku Coffee, according to GCC Vice-Chairman and Managing Director Ravi Prakash.

Double the market price

The GCC procures the coffee seeds from the tribal farmers from their doorsteps. The farmer is immediately paid ₹90 per kg and ₹90 after auction. “This is double the amount they were getting from middlemen brokers. The price is decided by an apex committee of officials,” he said.

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