Girijan Cooperative Corporation to expand organic certification to coffee plantations in Paderu Agency area

 Organic certification was already received for the coffee plantations raised by 2,600 coffee farmers in 2,258.55 hectares for coffee and pepper cultivation in Chintapalli and GK Veedhi mandals, says GCC  Vice Chairperson and Managing Director Kalpana Kumari
| Photo Credit: File photo

A review meeting was conducted by the Vice Chairperson and Managing Director of Girijan Cooperative Corporation (GCC) Kalpana Kumari on expansion of organic certification to coffee plantations to all mandals of Paderu Agency area in addition to existing Chintapalli and G.K. Veedhi mandals, at the GCC Office here on Tuesday.

Ms. Kalpana Kumari said that organic certification was already received for the coffee plantations raised by 2,600 coffee farmers in 2258.55 hectares for coffee and pepper cultivation in Chintapalli and GK Veedhi mandals. She said that on the directions of the government, the organic certification process would be extended to Paderu, Araku, Anantagiri, Dumbriguda, Pedabayalu, Munchingput, G. Madugula, Chintapalli, GK Veedhi and Koyyuru mandals covering 1,25,928 coffee farmers in 9,1671.95 hectares. She underlined the importance of organic certification.

Paderu ITDA Project Officer V. Abishek suggested that organic certification should be taken up in selected clusters through 500 farmers as a pilot project.

G.Yugandhar, Quality Manager, AP State Organic Products Certification Authority (APSOPCA), Guntur, S.Ramesh, Dy. Director, Coffee Board, Paderu, R.P.Naidu, Assistant General Manager, APEDA, Secunderabad, Ashok, Additional Director, Coffee Board / PHO, Paderu, Sunil Babu, Regional Coffee Research Station (RCRS), R.V.Nagar, G.K.Veedhi, B Panda, TechnoServe, Manager, Visakhapatnam, N.Satyanarayana, Girijan Vikas NGO, Chinthapalli, Aliveni, Giri Chena, NGO, G.K.Veedhi, M.V.V.S. Umadevi, General Manager(Coffee), GCC Ltd. Visakhapatnam, T. Srinivasa Rao, Senior Manager (Coffee), GCC Ltd., Visakhapatnam, were among those who participated in the meeting.