How Araku coffee is placing India on the global map

Araku farmers display their freshly plucked coffee. [Courtesy]

The opening of Araku cafe in Paris in 2017, marked India's arrival on the world map of speciality coffee. It was the tribal farmers of Araku Valley, a richly biodiverse region on the borders of Andhra Pradesh and Odisha that have placed India there.

The story of Araku Coffee dates back to the year 2000 when the Naandi Foundation started interacting with the local community there. Conscious of the unique cultural and historical heritage of adivasi (tribal) communities, Naandi Foundation focused on developing a deeper understanding of their culture and the environment they lived in. The tribal farmers who had been relying on traditional shifting cultivation were slowly introduced to regenerative agriculture practices.