NGO brews new life for tribals

Naandi Foundation, an autonomous charitable trust set up by Dr Reddy's and three other companies, has managed to convert semi-wastelands into organic coffee plantations in Araku valley in Visakhapatnam district of Andhra Pradesh by using natural resource management techniques.

This has created livelihood opportunities for poor, landless tribals, benefiting 2,637 tribal families.

They have been grouped under coffee farmers' clubs and trained by the Coffee Board to maintain coffee plantations spread over 1,000 acre, says the Sustainability Report 2006 of Dr Reddy's.

Naandi Foundation is supported by Dr Reddy's, Satyam Computer Services, Global Trust Bank (now merged with Oriental Bank of Commerce) and the Nagarjuna group of companies.

These plantations are spread over 74 villages and have yielded 11.3 tonne of coffee beans in the 2005-06 season.

The crop is expected to go up substantially this season. For this project, Naandi has partnered with Adivasi Abhivruddhi Samskruthika Sangham. These coffee plantations have secured organic certification from a Dutch organic farming accreditation society, making their coffee eligible for export.

Naandi has also initiated other moves, such as allocating land in every settlement for growing vegetables. This is to ensure that the families have income even during the gestation of the coffee crop.