Our Correspondent
Kohima, March 30 (EMN): In a landmark achievement for coffee products from the state, Nagaland Coffee won the silver plaque at the 3rd annual Aurora International Taste Challenge 2021.
The event was held at the end of September near Stellenbosch, South Africa to celebrate and pay tribute to universal food quality.
It may be mentioned that first prize is awarded double gold, second prize gold, and third place silver, which the state won for Nagaland Coffee Tribal Blend.
This was announced by the Land Resources department (LRD) led by the director A Pangjung Jamir in the presence of Dr. Pieter Vermeulen from South Africa and additional director Albert E Ngulie, joint director Vanchamo Ngullie and other department officials.
Informing about the same, Dr. Pieter Vermeulen said during the Covid-induced lockdown period, coffee could not be exported but during that time he tried experimented blending coffee with the different coffees grown from Nagaland – Mokokchung (Khar), Zunheboto and Mon. He added that different estates have different aromas, tastes, sweetness and others and blending them well tastes good.
‘After which the entry was made to the competition which has a different formula -- single estates in which the whole area belongs to one farmer and is owned in the same region and is the highest level of the Award,’ he said.
Pointing out that the entry was not made for a single estate but for the blend which were handpicked to make sure that the quality is extremely good, the entry was made for the competition in September last year.
“For us as company it is extremely well because, the moment you compete with other international players, you get your benchmark, if you don’t compete you don’t know as the judges for the competition are from areas, and if I just drink Nagaland (coffee) and don’t experience others’ coffee, we don’t get the wider variety – coffee from Thailand, South America and different estates had entered and for us this a great achievement,” said Vermeulen.
He commended the department of Land Resources for establishing the right varieties and quality while pointing out that ‘to get the good quality, the right variety is needed, right environment -- soil, shade, climatic condition, micro-climate which contribute to the quality of coffee’.
He added that the post-harvesting process is also required to ensure good quality of coffee. He added that Nagaland can work on producing highly flavoured, organic renowned coffee.
Speaking of the way forward for coffee production in Nagaland, he said the next step after production is to develop quality coffee and develop it consistently. He pointed out that coffee from the state is sold outside as ‘Nagaland Coffee’ which must be known as good high-quality coffee.
For coffee export, the Specialty Coffee Association has prescribed certain standards which everybody follows, he informed.
Coffee is rated on a scale of 1-100 and coffees above 80 can be exported and coffee above 85 is recognised as 'very-very good coffee' and the price is determined by high quality coffee.
He viewed that if post-harvest processing is in place and can get consistent quality, it (Nagaland coffee) can be established as a world known brand for quality coffee.
Further, he informed that Brazil is known for coffee plantations for over 5200 years, while Nagaland is just seven years old.
"To achieve something in seven years from nothing is remarkable", he said.
He also added that coffee is the second highest traded commodity in the world and most countries consume a cup of coffee every day. He added that to get a benchmark and to improve on that is the way forward for Nagaland Coffee.
He stated that the next challenge is to train farmers and let them drink coffee, pointing out that Nagas are tea drinkers. ‘It becomes difficult to determine the quality of a product if one doesn't know the product,’ he added.
Further, he stressed on the need to focus on post-harvest processing and called for sensitisation, introduction of technology for drying, refractometer to measure sugar in the berry before plucking and coffee drinking culture to value and understand the product.
It was also informed that Nagaland Coffee could not be exported during 2020-21 due to the pandemic, however those products will be processed in the next two weeks time and also get the new harvest, process them and export them, he said.
Disclosing to the media, the highest recognised level in the world for coffee is the ‘Cup of excellence,’ which Nagaland Coffee also aspires to make entry in the near future.
He added that Nagaland Coffee will also compete in this year's edition of Aurora International Taste Challenge for single estate, wherein the entry starts from August and competition in September.
Vermeulen also revealed that Fair Trade Coffee and Coffee Quality Institute are being invited to come to Nagaland next time, which are the two standard world trade bodies of coffee in the world.
Meanwhile, A Pangjung Jamir, Director Land Resources Department (LRD) expressed delight about the recognition from the international level.
He maintained that initially, coffee was first introduced in the state to encourage the farmers to go for coffee plantation realising the maximum profit it can generate and also to uplift the rural economy.
He also informed that the government of the day led by the leaders is taking keen interest and the total areas covered are over 9382 hectare, which was started in 2014-15.
The director also added that the suitable area for coffee in Nagaland is 10,40,100 Ha through the GIS and it set the target for 2030 at 30,000 Ha.
The present production is 56 metric tonnes (parchment and dry cherry) while the number of farmers having more than 10 Ha of coffee plantations in the state is 32 (Dimapur- 15, Kohima-14 and Zunheboto-3).
Further, the department revealed that the farmers from Nagaland at present are earning INR 2.5- 3 lakh per hectare in a year while this year’s harvest of coffee in the state is expected to be a minimum of 30 metric tonne.