The concept of Carbon neutrality will open up new possibilities for Wayanad Coffee, said Thomas Issac, Finance Minister while inaugurating the forum for framing the action plan for “Carbon neutral Wayanad” held at M S Swaminathan Research Foundation Campus, Wayanad. Carbon neutrality itself should emerge as a new brand for Wayanad Coffee in the market, he added.
The minister said that carbon neutrality in Wayanad could be made possible only by the scientific intervention and implementation of methodologies which includes afforestation of indigenous tree species which are proven to be helpful in carbon sequestration in shade coffee ecosystem of Wayanad. He further added that now the farmers were getting low prices, but the branding of their produce would help them to fetch a better price in the market.
The state government would take initiatives for a project which envisage an overall development of the district. This will be implemented with the participation of three-tier panchayats with public cooperation, the minister said.
Prof. M K Prasad chaired the function. Dr N Anilkumar, Senior Director, MSSRF welcomed the gathering. C.K.Saseendran,MLA,Kalpetta, Dr.S.C.Joshi IFS(Rtd.), Chairman, Kerala State Biodiversity Board, Balagopal IAS, (Rtd.), Karuthamani, Deputy Director,Coffee Research Station, Shajna, Assistant Conservator, Social Forestry, Jayakumar Thanal, David Hogg, Chief Sustainability Officer, Nandi Foundation, P.K.Mayan Mohammed, Managing Director, The Western India Plywoods Ltd, Dr.G.N.Hariharan, Director-Biotechnology, MSSRF, Dr.V.Balakrishnan, Head, CAbC MSSRF spoke at the occasion.
People’s representatives, farmer representatives, planters, coffee traders, producer companies, NGOS and scientists participated in the programme.
