The annual coffee festival and competition for best biodynamic farmer and best biodynamic farming village is scheduled to be held at Thuraiguda in Araku Valley on March 10. The Gems of Araku 2015 is being organised to mark the end of harvest season of coffee in the valley and would be celebrated by Small and Marginal Tribal Coffee Farmers Mutually Aided Cooperative Society (SAMTFMACS). The festival is being organised to help improve the living conditions of Araku tribal farmers , assistant general manager Araku Livelihoods Vinod Hegde said in a statement. The coffee from Araku marketed by Araku Originals Limited, floated by the Naandi Foundation and the SAMTCFMACS, had been appreciated by the discerning connoisseurs from coffee guzzling nations like Norway, South Korea and Switzerland. The coffee from Araku commanded prices between Rs. 450 and 500 per kilo last season. Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu, who has adopted the villages of Araku Assembly constituency under Smart Village concept, has proposed to increase the area under coffee in the next five years.
