North Eastern Council (NEC) Secretary Satinder Kumar Bhalla on Friday, 2 October called for a comprehensive, integrated approach to coffee cultivation in Nagaland, asserting that infrastructure upgrades, mechanisation, value addition, and robust market linkages are indispensable to meaningfully raise farmers' incomes. His remarks came during a field visit to Tuophema village in Kohima district, where he reviewed progress under the Coffee USP Project.

What Bhalla Saw on the Ground

The NEC Secretary inspected coffee plantation sites and the Hi-Tech Coffee Washing Station at Tuophema, and held direct interactions with coffee growers and members of the Tuophema Cluster. The on-ground assessment appeared to reinforce his view that the sector, while promising, remains constrained by gaps in processing infrastructure and market access.

Coffee USP Project: Beyond Planting Trees

Bhalla was categorical that the Coffee USP Project is not a simple plantation drive. 'The larger objective is to create sustainable livelihoods and enable communities to access better education, healthcare, modern amenities and an improved quality of life, contributing to the vision of Viksit Bharat by 2047,' he said. He stressed that commercially viable coffee cultivation requires good road connectivity, modern processing machinery, efficient post-harvest infrastructure, quality assurance, and strong export linkages — none of which can be achieved in isolation.

He also called for the Nagaland government and the Coffee Board to collaborate with central agricultural institutions to identify suitable intercrops and complementary activities within coffee plantations, arguing that crop diversification would improve land productivity and provide farmers with additional income streams.

Collective Effort: Centre, State, and Private Sector

Bhalla underscored that achieving a substantial income increase for farming communities would demand coordinated action from the Centre, the Nagaland government, the Coffee Board, local administration, farmers, technical institutions, and private investors. He specifically encouraged the local administration to actively court industrial houses, investors, and exporters who could bring mechanisation and automation to the sector through appropriate financial arrangements.

He also commended young coffee grower Vibei Kense, who travelled to Vietnam to obtain specialised coffee certification, calling such individual initiative a model for building local expertise and strengthening the regional coffee ecosystem.

A Sector With Deep Roots but Unrealised Potential

Nagaland Principal Secretary and Development Commissioner Y. Kikheto Sema noted that coffee cultivation in the state dates back to 1981, but the sector has consistently fallen short of its economic potential due to limited awareness, inadequate market linkages, and structural constraints. Sema encouraged farmers to consider intercropping with black pepper and other compatible crops wherever technically feasible, echoing the integrated approach advocated by the NEC Secretary.

The renewed institutional attention on Nagaland's coffee sector signals a broader push by the Centre and NEC to unlock the agricultural and export potential of the Northeast, with the Coffee USP Project serving as one of the more concrete vehicles for that ambition.