Nagaland Chief minister Neiphiu Rio on Wednesday, through an initiative of the Land Resources Department (LRD) distributed 50 coffee pulping machines to coffee growers in Kohima district. The project has been funded by the North east Council (NEC).

During a short ceremony held at Solidarity Park in Kohima, Rio urged the coffee farmers to judiciously utilise the machines provided to them.

Appreciating how local farmers are taking interest to grow coffee, Rio said that there is ‘huge potential’ and a big market across the globe to trade coffee products. Although Nagaland coffee is now being exported to South Africa and Dubai and stressed on the need to export more finished coffee products in order to generate more revenue, later Rio added.

The CM advised the LRD to train and educate the farmers about coffee plantation, management, provide refresher courses, and also provide good coffee seedlings to the farmers.

Encouraging the farmers to make maximum utilization of the machines, Rio also urged them to help one another and share their knowledge to the locals in the community.