Indian coffee is recognised globally for its distinct aroma and flavour. Five varieties of Indian coffee have received Geographical Indication (GI) tags: Coorg Arabica coffee from Kodagu, Karnataka; Chikkamagaluru Arabica coffee from Chikkamagaluru, Karnataka; Araku Valley Arabica coffee from Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh; Bababudangiris Arabica coffee from Chikkamagaluru, Karnataka; and Wayanad Robusta coffee, from Wayanad, Kerala. These varieties are not only symbols of regional pride and sustainable livelihoods for coffee farmers.
Globally, coffee is recognised as an important soft commodity. It however constantly remains at the mercy of climatic uncertainties like the El Nino events or droughts. Over the last couple of years, a severe drought has impacted production in Brazil — the largest coffee producer in the world — demonstrating how vulnerable this commodity is to changing weather patterns. According to reports from the Press Information Bureau (PIB), India currently ranks as the seventh-largest coffee producer in the world, with exports reaching $1.29 billion in FY 2023-24. In January 2025 alone, India exported over 9,300 tonnes of coffee to its top buyers in different countries.
Moreover, increasingly, coffee dominates lifestyle trends. From local filter coffee brands to coffee tourism, the beverage is cherished both as staple and as a means of livelihoods. For example, the first coffee plantations in Southeast Cuba represent a 19th-20th century cultural landscape of colonial coffee production, with 171 cafetales, irrigation systems, and mountain routes connecting plantations to export points, according to the UNESCO World Heritage Convention. Similarly, the Coffee Triangle in Colombia, Coorg estates in India, the Sidamo region (along with Harar and Yirgacheffe) in Ethiopia, dedicated coffee tours in Brazil and Buon Ma Thuot (the coffee capital of Vietnam) bring coffee on the tourism map of the world.
While brands have long been using its thriving potential, small businesses have developed their own niche — preserving its essence while providing livelihoods to small and marginal farmers. Araku coffee even featured in one episode of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Mann ki Baat, while Wayanad Robusta gained recognition at the One District One Product Awards in 2024. More recently, the pressing concerns of coffee growers from Wayanad were directly taken up by the sitting MP, Priyanka Gandhi, during her grassroots outreach programme.
Naandi Foundation’s Small and Marginal Tribal Farmers Mutually Aided Cooperative Society (SAMTFMACS) in the Araku Valley of Vishakhapatnam district, Andhra Pradesh, was formed to allow farmers to take control of the entire ‘bean to cup’ supply chain in the case of coffee.
From Instagrammable coffee trends — green coffee, coffee cake and muffins, mushroom coffee, and egg coffee, to name a few — alongside dalgona coffee that kept many occupied during the long months of the lockdown, to pleasing ‘home cafe aesthetics’ or the culture of ‘home cafes’ that are now finding their ways into our living rooms and continue to go viral on social media, coffee has cemented its position as an evolving daily staple, especially appealing to younger generations like Gen Z. The popularity of the Starbucks ‘Bearista’ mug in the United States, together with trends like proffee (protein coffee), cloud coffee, and matcha lattes, further enhances the value chain and appeal of coffee.
But in all of this value chain, who are some of the critical grassroots actors sustaining coffee economies across the world? This essay looks at some of the resilient and inspiring women from Chikkamagaluru in Karnataka who are continuously reshaping the coffee ecosystem in India, while also being the last mile delivery facilitators in agriculture and allied sector development.
Take the example of Chaitra, aged 45. She cultivates coffee on her farm while also being an active member of a self-help group (SHG) in Belur taluka, Chikkamagaluru district, Karnataka. For the last three years, she has been associated with the Shri Ganga Sanjeevani SHG run by the State Rural Livelihoods Mission in her district. Alongside her responsibilities as a coffee farmer, Chaitra also addressed livestock-related concerns of fellow farmers in her village doubling up as Pashu Sakhi. Being engaged in the coffee value chain, she mobilises farmers towards regenerative agriculture around coffee cultivation, vaccination drives for goats, livestock, and other domestic animals in her gram panchayat every six months. On her own farm, she grows approximately 550 kg of Robusta coffee per acre.
Livestock continues to be one of the most vital assets to the rural poor. Chaitra notes that the major beneficiaries of the Pashu Sakhi model are landless women and marginal farmers, since marginal and landless farmers rely heavily on livestock rearing in the absence of sustained agricultural opportunities. Moreover, training women as Pashu Sakhis in basic veterinary and livestock management provides crucial services in remote areas where formal such services are often scarce.
Similar to Chaitra’s journey is the story of Janaki — a Krishi Sakhi from Jodal Palya village, Mallimane gram panchayat. Every farmer Janaki engages with is a woman — either directly cultivating coffee or involved in some stage of its value chain. At present, she works with 150 such women coffee farmers and herself cultivate about 400 kg of Arabica coffee per acre. She joined the Sanjeevani SHG in 2012. A year later, she became an agriculture para-extension worker and subsequently took on the role of an official Krishi Sakhi. Her primary responsibilities include educating farmers about government schemes related to agriculture and livestock, collecting soil samples, testing soils, natural farming, promoting natural inputs like jeevamrutha and beejamrutha, demonstrating inter-cropping methods, and advising on the scanty use of fertilisers and pesticides to promote soil ecology — bringing attention to how cultivable soil or arable land resources will become scarce.
Both Chaitra and Janaki work on strengthening regenerative agriculture and sustainable livelihoods — focusing on soil health, biodiversity, and agroforestry where they educate on the importance of maintaining adequate tree cover for sustainable coffee farming. These efforts promote environmental harmony by attracting bees, butterflies, birds, and pollinators to the landscape.
In Chikkamagaluru alone, there are around 5,000 women coffee farmers. There are numerous inspirational stories like those of Chaitra and Janaki. Women across Chikkamagaluru are altering the coffee farming by first linking themselves with SHGs and then diversifying into alternate livelihood opportunities by taking on the roles of Krishi and Pashu Sakhis, while continuing their work as coffee growers.
Shruchi Singh, Project Lead at the S.M. Sehgal Foundation working on sustainable livelihoods and regenerative agriculture with women coffee farmers like Janaki and Chaitra in the region mentions, “Women coffee farmers in Chikkamagaluru play a pivotal role in shaping a more resilient and sustainable future for the coffee industry, working bottom-up in the decentralised value chain of coffee. The Foundation collaborates with 3,285 women coffee farmers, thereby creating a multiplier effect. By promoting agro-forestry in coffee and intercropping, they ensure minimal harm to soil health. These women act as ambassadors of biodiversity, educating communities on climate resilience, and through their consistent advocacy around coffee farming, they help create inclusive markets for women, small and marginal farmers. Empowering women through regenerative agriculture centred on coffee not only strengthens their socio-economic status but also generates demonstration effects — where their traditional and climate-friendly knowledge, resources, and market linkages inspire wider adaptation in communities.”
Equally important is the role these women play as community resource persons drawn from their own communities facilitating governmental objectives while also promoting institutional public private community partnerships. Through these efforts, they advance key Sustainable Development Goals, like SDG 1 and 2 (zero poverty and hunger), SDG 5 (gender equality), SDG 13 (climate action) and, via a bottom-up, decentralised approach, SDG 17. Women like Chaitra and Janaki strengthen last-mile public service delivery and nurture social capital within their communities. By organising farmer meetings, conducting workshops, and leading training programmes, they are shaping the present and future of India’s coffee sector — extending their impact — beyond the bean.
Swasti Pachauri is an academic and a public policy professional.
Views expressed are the author’s own and don’t necessarily reflect those of Down To Earth