Commerce Secretary calls for diversification, innovation and value addition in coffee sector

New Delhi [India], October 1 (ANI): Commerce Secretary Rajesh Agrawal has said that India's coffee exports have doubled in recent years and called for efforts to further boost productivity.

Speaking at an event on International Coffee Day in the national capital, he referred to efforts to promote Indian coffee globally.

"We love to work with all stakeholders to diversify the production process, build, and add value in our country, and get a premium for our exports in the world market," he said.

"We need to work together to find correct solutions to that, because if we have to make coffee a remunerative and a paying investment of time and effort by our young population, that is something that as government also, we need to help out the industry to see that we address these problems in a manner that our coffee production become more predictable, more stable, and productivity is high enough to make this long term investment, a viable option for next generation," he added.

Agrawal called for suggestions from industry experts and stakeholders.

"To understand the sector better, need to also come back with suggestions to us where we can also help out whatever government can do to catalyse the process."

He highlighted that India's coffee exports have doubled over the last three years, reaching USD 1.8 billion in the previous fiscal year

"Coffee export has doubled in last three years. Last year Indian coffee export has grown to USD 1.8 billion dollars despite the fact that the coffee is grown majorly in only three states--Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala," Agrawal stated.

"Since our coffee is grown along in conjunction with the forest, we do have lot of challenges around pest management, disease management in the coffee. There is a challenge of one particular disease which destroys and impacts a lot of our coffee production in the country," he added. (ANI)

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