The minister said there is a lot of work to be done in the country, which is already a large producer of coffee. “While India continues to be a large producer of coffee and an exporter of almost a billion dollars of coffee, I for one, believe that there are miles to go,” Goyal said after inaugurating the fifth World Coffee Conference-2023, the four-day event organised by the International Coffee Organisation (ICO) here.
“We have huge potential because we have a lot of work to do in our country in terms of expanding coffee plantation, expanding the taste of coffee into the interior and other parts of the country and also taking our Indian coffee to many more destinations,” he added.
Goyal appealed to the Coffee Board of India to take it up as a mission and continue the effort to take Indian coffee to new destinations. “I think we need to go to other parts of the world. We have to look at much larger and more ambitious goals,” the minister, who holds the commerce and industry, consumer affairs, and food and public distribution portfolios said.
He underlined the need to innovate “from farm to cup” and introduce latest technologies. He also stressed upon the need to popularise sustainable practices. In this regard, Goyal asked the coffee industry to involve the scientific community to see how the agricultural processes, as well as roasting and brewing, apart from marketing practices can seamlessly protect the environment. The minister also appealed to those in the coffee industry to collaborate and enhance cooperation and work with research institutes and global bodies to make the coffee business a sustainable and environment-friendly business model.
To achieve these goals, he asked the coffee industry to adhere to high quality standards in production and processing. “As responsible producers, I think it’s important that we continue to respect the need for change, the need to remain abreast of best practices worldwide, to bring innovation and technology in our ecosystem and also ensure that the entire coffee process from end-to-end respects sustainability as the core principle,” Goyal said. The four-day event at the imposing Bangalore Palace is themed on sustainability through circular economy and regenerative agriculture. It features conferences, skill-building workshops, growers’ conclaves, CEOs and global leaders forums, startup conclaves, competitions and awards, and an exhibitions on cutting-edge coffee products and services. A notable highlight is a dome-shaped structure designed as a Coffee Museum, which showcases coffee plantations of the Western Ghats. There are themed pavilions representing states such as Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, and the Northeast region, each displaying the diverse range of coffees produced in India.
