A Parliamentary Panel on Commerce wants the Coffee Board to revamp its organisational structure and induct more industry professionals.
“Coffee Board should play a more purposeful role in the years ahead, for which its organisational structure will have to undergo a transformation from a bureaucratic structure to a knowledge based centre,” the panel said in a report tabled in Parliament recently. The conventional organisation structure will have to undergo complete modification with more and more professionals joining the organisation.
The state-run Coffee Board is a statutory body under the administrative control of the Commerce Ministry. The board is headed by an IAS officer and comprises 32 other members from the industry, trade and representatives of State Governments. It is focussed on enhancing production and quality, promotion of exports and supporting development of domestic market.
The hierarchical structure may have to be replaced with professionals, experts and cultivators with specialisations in their respective fields and capable of responding to the requirement and expectations of different sections of the industry.
“The organisation needs to engage specialists in areas such as research, post harvest management and processing, quality assurance including standards, export and domestic marketing, facilitation, market research and information systems,” it said.
India exported 3.45 lakh tonnes of coffee valued at Rs 4,849 crore for the financial year ended March 2012.