Coffee ads to thier lives

KORAPUT: Coffee has freshen up the mornings of more than 300 tribal families in Koraput district , Brundaban Sahu , an employee in the Soil Conservation department at Koraput said . Each of these families have started earning at least Rs.20,000/- per year with the yield in the allotted 2 acres of coffee plantation .

As a part of the soil conservation activity in the mountains of Koraput , Machkund , Laxmipur and Nandapur blocks 24 hectors in 2003 and 264 hectors in 2004 were taken up for growing coffee with the participation of community . People living below poverty line were selected as the beneficiaries and each of them were given the ownership rights on 2 acres of planted land by the district administration , he said .

The department had spent Rs.41,000/- towards the planting materials while each of the beneficiary was given Rs.15,000/- in phases towards their physical labour over four years’ time . The communities took guard of the plantation and are reaping the fruits since last year .Apart from the production of coffee , the move has encouraged people to protect big trees in the mountains as they were required for giving shade to the coffee plants . Encouraged with the success , the department was planning to promote coffee plantation in yet another 450 hectors in the district during the current financial year , he said .