North Eastern Council secretary Satinder Kumar Bhalla urged an integrated approach to coffee development in Nagaland, stating that the sector must move beyond plantation to include processing, mechanisation, diversification and stronger market linkages in order to substantially raise farmers’ incomes.
During a visit to Touphema village in Kohima, Bhalla reviewed coffee cultivation and infrastructure under the Coffee USP project. He inspected plantation sites and the Hi‑Tech Coffee Washing Station, and spoke with growers and members of the Touphema Cluster. The secretary described the project as an integrated livelihood and economic development programme that could enable villages, societies and clusters to derive greater value from the region’s natural and human resources.
He emphasized that commercially viable coffee cultivation requires good road connectivity, modern processing machinery, efficient post‑harvest infrastructure, quality assurance, value addition and stronger market and export linkages. Bhalla called for collective efforts by the Centre, Nagaland government, Coffee Board, local administration, farmers, technical institutions and the private sector to achieve the intended increase in farm incomes, and urged the state government and Coffee Board to consult central agricultural institutions for suitable intercrops and complementary activities.
The visit also highlighted labour shortages, high costs of weeding and harvesting, and the need for brush cutters and suitable harvesting equipment. Bhalla assured growers that possibilities for water harvesting, mechanisation, new technologies and suitable equipment would be examined, and encouraged the administration to engage industrial houses, investors and exporters to explore financial and institutional support for mechanisation and automation. The overall goal is to create a sustainable coffee ecosystem covering production, water management, mechanisation, processing, quality improvement, market access and diversification, thereby improving the quality of life for communities in Nagaland.
