Minister for Commerce & Industry and Civil Aviation, Suresh Prabhu today launched Coffee Connect - India coffee field force app and Coffee KrishiTharanga - digital mobile extension services for coffee stakeholders at a function here today. The mobile app Coffee Connect has been developed to ease the work of field functionaries and to improve the work efficiency. This application provides solution by harnessing the power of mobility comprising the latest technology in easing the whole process of the field activities like digitization of Coffee Growers & Estates with Geo Tagging, collecting the Plantation details. It will also help in transparency in the activities of the extension officers and officials, transparency in subsidy disbursement and real time report generation.
Suresh Prabhu also launched pilot projects on data analytics, artificial intelligence, IOTS and block-chain & smart contract. Coffee Board has also identified technological solutions to address some of the perennial coffee production and coffee farming issues and challenges such as rainfall, pests and diseases. Coffee Board in collaboration with EKA Analytics, a global leader in the data analytics and artificial intelligence has developed the hyper local weather forecast, pest (white stem borer) identification and leaf rust disease forecast applications for pilot testing.
Coffee is cultivated in India in about 4.54 lakh hectares by 3.66 lakh coffee farmers and 98% of them are small farmers. Its cultivation is mainly confined to Karnataka (54%), Kerala (19%) and Tamil Nadu (8%) which form traditional coffee tracts. Coffee is also grown in non-traditional areas like Andhra Pradesh & Odisha (17.2%) and North Eastern states (1.8%), with main emphasis on tribal development and afforestation.
