State to aid branding, value addition of coffee

A high-level meeting, convened by Agriculture Minister V.S. Sunil Kumar here on Wednesday, decided to focus on branding and value addition of domestically produced coffee to address the crisis faced by coffee farmers.

The meeting, attended by Coffee Board research director Rajaramalu, resolved to promote domestic coffee and by-products under the brand name Kerala Coffee and explore the market potential of organic certified coffee. The Minister said efforts were on to secure GI (Geographic Indication) tag for Wayanad coffee.

The problems faced by coffee farmers, including price fluctuation, cheap imports, declining acreage and GST- related issues, came up for discussion at the meeting.