Chhattisgarh’s Bastar district was till recently known as a hotbed of Naxalism. But, not only has the district been able to check the growth of the ultra-Left movement by winning the local people over and engaging them in gainful pursuits, it is also succeeding in its attempt to remodel itself as a tourist destination, and lately, it is also positioning itself in the coffee tourism sector with its brand – Bastar Coffee.
The local farmers who traditionally grew paddy are now experimenting with a rare variety of coffee seeds with support from the district administration and scientists of the College of Horticulture and Research Station, Jagdalpur. As a result, coffee plantations have come up in the three villages of Darbha, Kakalgur and Dilmili. And, to cash in on the popular cafe culture introduced among the youth by the likes of CCD, Barista, Starbucks and McCafe, the Bastar administration has opened ‘Bastar Cafe’, a chic hangout in the district HQ, Jagdalpur.
Indian Masterminds spoke to CEO of Bastar Zila Panchayat, 2017-batch IAS officer of Chhattisgarh cadre, Rohit Vyas, to know more about Bastar Coffee (and Bastar Cafe) that are being shaped to brew up a storm in the coffee world, once they are launched pan India.
BREAKING NEW GROUNDS
In India, coffee has traditionally been cultivated in the southern states of Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu. So, the experiment in Chhattisgarh can be said to be one of the firsts in coffee project elsewhere.
Forest area occupies more than 40 per cent of Chhattisgarh and the natives are heavily dependent on forests for their livelihoods. So, coffee cultivation hasn’t merely increased the incomes of the people but also opened up new avenues for employment in the areas around plantations.
The district administration is promoting coffee as a non-conventional agriculture product to help the farmers shift from paddy, and also generate coffee tourism. This switch from traditional farming to a cash crop like coffee has opened up new avenues for the farmers, who have had to struggle to get good prices for their traditional crops, and also get around the Left-wing extremism in the form of Maoist Naxalites who have carried on an insurgency in the state for almost 50 years now.
HOW COFFEE CAME UP IN BASTAR
Coffee is a perennial plant which yields crop for more than 40 years. It generally grows in the high-altitude areas with ambient temperature in most part of the years. Out of the seven blocks in Bastar, four blocks have land masses at higher altitude, especially in Darbha, where the highest peak of the district lies, which is more than 800 meters above sea level. In these areas, a significant land mass goes unused in terms of recurring cultivation. Hence, it was conceptualised to grow coffee in an area of 25 acres in Darbha in 2017, said Dr KP Singh, a scientist from College of Horticulture and Research Station, Jagdalpur, adding that inter cropping with different plants was also planned for shadow support to the plantation.
“In the high elevated areas, the afforestation work is being promoted by introducing coffee in the forest based ecosystems. The cropping intensity will be increased by raising coffee and the shade trees in the forest land,” CEO, Bastar Zila Panchayat, Rohit Vyas, said.
It was decided by the district administration to grow two types of coffee, Robusta and Arabica. A public motivation drive was taken up to motivate the farmers to land pool and grow coffee. The district administration communicated that the technical and the material support will be provided by them, wherein the farmers would be involved as a stakeholder in land bank and farming activity. The first success was achieved in the region of gram panchayat of Dilmili where 34 farmers pooled in a land bank of more than 100 acres to grow coffee.
USP: A DISTINCT EARTHY TASTE
Is Bastar Coffee different in any way from coffee down south? Mr. Vyas said, “The Bastar coffee is mostly being consumed as filtered coffee and is quite similar to the coffee produced in the Araku valley in Andhra Pradesh. A distinct earthy taste is its USP.”
The key scientific parameter which makes Bastar Coffee a unique product is the content of chlorogenic acid, caffeine and protein with a percentage of 6.02, 0.53 and 11.22 respectively.
ABOUT BASTAR CAFE
To popularise Bastar Coffee and blend it into the cafe culture, a Bastar Cafe has been opened in Jagdalpur. The Tea and Coffee Board is exploring the option of opening a Bastar Cafe in Delhi and in Raipur, also. And, once the commercial production starts and flourishes, Bastar Cafe might even be turned into a pan-India coffee chain.
“The Delhi and Raipur cafes will primarily function as the centres of soft power and image metamorphosis for the region of Bastar. These cafes will be carrying modern aesthetics with a high inclination towards popular youth culture, with its core residing in the grassroots of Bastar. The cafés would centre around coffee and cuisine which are centric to the region but also have a twisted modern outlook. For example, the local ‘tomato chutney’ can be portrayed as a ‘salsa sauce’. Moreover, these cafes can also act as the marketing centres for the products which can lead to a greater long term B2B partnerships with national and international agencies,” Mr. Vyas told Indian Masterminds.
COMMERCIAL EXPANSION
As per the direction from the state government, currently the district administration is trying to expand coffee plantation in an area of more than 5000 acres at war footing. The future targeted blocks are Tokapal, Lohandiguda, and Bastanaar.
“In terms of providing livelihood, Bastar Coffee will be a game changer in the region. Bastar Cafe is being run by Bhoomgaadi FPO wherein employment is being generated for the rural youth of Bastar. It was conceptualised as a forward linkage mechanism for Bastar Coffee and other Bastariya and Chattisgarhi food products and snacks,” Mr. Vyas said.
Lastly, when asked to introduce Bastar Coffee to coffee lovers with a tagline, he came up with: “Brewing happiness one cup at a time.” Indeed, it looks like Bastar Coffee is set to brew up a storm in the cup and take the coffee world by surprise, if everything goes neatly as packed and planned.
