Brewing Up Nagaland

Nagaland, even though is one of the most beautiful states of the Indian sub-continent, however, generally grabs the headlines for all the wrong reasons- especially due to the insurgency-related issues. Shedding off the negative colours, the state on July 27, 2017, made took a step forward when the Nagaland government signed a Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) with the South Africa-based Nobel Cause Company in order to promote the state’s coffee at an international stage. The initiative, in the next few years, is certain to alleviate Nagaland coffee to an all new height.

- Sayantani Deb

Chronicle of Coffee

Even though coffee development programme in the Northeast initially began in the 1960s, however, commercial cultivation of coffee began only in 1976. The main aim of initiating coffee plantation in the region was to wean out the age-old practice of Jhum cultivation and prevent soil erosion. Jhum or shifting cultivation was mainly practiced among the various tribal groups of the region. In Nagaland, large scale coffee plantation was first introduced in 1980. The Nagaland Plantation Crops Development Corporation (NPCDC), in collaboration with the Coffee Board of India, was the pioneer agency to establish 2811 hectares of coffee-land in Nagaland in 1981.The initiative however failed due to lack of market avenues.

After the gap of over 35 years, the Nagaland government is again on its mission to revive its coffee sector. With Land Resource Department (LRD) as nodal department, government is taking up a number of coffee plantation drives in various districts of the state.

Nagaland produces two types of coffee— Arabica and Robusta. Arabica suits the higher altitude while Robusta (specie) suits in lower altitude areas. Over 760,000 coffees have been planted throughout the state with the target of another 700,000 in 2017.

Coffee Plantation in 1980s