Coffee (Promotion and Development Bill), 2022.

• Recently, the Ministry of Commerce and Industry is planning to replace the 80-year-old Coffee Act with the new Coffee (Promotion and Development Bill), 2022.
• The government would not close the Coffee Board, but would rather shift it from the Ministry of Commerce to the Ministry of Agriculture, to ensure that the benefits of all agricultural schemes are extended to coffee growers.
• The government has also proposed to repeal the decades old laws on tea, spices and rubber, and introduce new legislations in order to increase the ease of doing business and promote the development of these sectors.

Reasons for Scrapping the Law

• The substantive portion of the Coffee Act, 1942, which deals with pooling and marketing of the commodity, have become redundant and are impediments to the coffee trade.
• Some of these outdated regulations have stifled the sector’s growth, especially in marketing.
• In order to facilitate growth and ease of doing business, the government would introduce a simplified version of the Act to suit the present needs of the industry.

Key Provisions of draft Coffee (Promotion and Development) Bill, 2022

• The new Bill aims to address several new areas of functions of the Coffee Board.
• These include support for production, research, extension, quality improvement and the promotion of coffee and skill development of coffee growers. Many of these activities were originally not included in the mandate of the Coffee Board but now they need to be incorporated into its functions and powers.
• The Bill is also aimed at “holistic promotion and development” of the coffee industry, covering activities such as the expansion of the cash crop in new areas, sustainable cultivation, raising production as well as productivity, exports, promotion and the marketing of coffee.