The coffee Board of India organized the 20th International Conference on Coffee Science (ASIC-2004) from 11th October to 15th October 2004 at 'The Grand Ashok', Bangalore. This prestigious Conference was being organized for the first time in India. The ASIC Conference were originally launched by a Paris based scientific association on coffee known as "Association Scientifique International du Café (ASIC)" during 1963 with an objective to promote scientific exchanges between coffee producing and consuming countries. ASIC organizes International Scientific Conferences once in two years, alternatively once in producing and consuming countries. So far, the ASIC has successfully organized 19 international scientific conferences in coffee, world over.

Each ASIC conference attracts about 300 delegates from nearly 50 coffee producing as well as consuming countries comprising scientists, policy makers and representatives from coffee industries. The ASIC conference provides an ideal and appropriate platform for exchange of updated research developments and scientific advancements in all areas of coffee technology, the production, processing quality, chemistry and even on marketing front.

Inaugural session of ASIC-2004

The inaugural session of the Conference was held on October 11, 2004. His Excellency the Governor of Karnataka Sri T.N.Chaturvedi inaugurated the conference in the presence of Dr. M.S.Swaminathan, Mr. Gerald Baldwin, President of ASIC and a host of other dignitaries from the Govt. of Karnataka and Ministry of Commerce & Industry, Govt. of India.

In his inaugural address, the Governor congratulated the Coffee Board and also the Organizing Committee of ASIC-2004 for organizing this prestigious conference for the first time in India. He briefly touched upon the significance of the coffee industry in the economy of India and expressed that the impressive participation by many scientists from different countries in an indication of growing significance of the Indian coffee.

Sri Srinivas Gowda, Hon'ble Minister of Agriculture, Govt. of Karnataka who was the Guest of Honour on the occasion also addressed the gathering. In his address, he dwelled on the problems faced by the coffee industry in the recent years due to historic low prices and opined that making available farm credit at lowest rate of interest, water augmentation to overcome erratic monsoons and providing market access are the key issues for farmers. He requested the scientific community to look into the issues of concern viz. minimizing the cost of cultivation, eco-friendly disease and pest management strategies, minimum support price and also crop insurance.

Welcoming the delegates on behalf of the Board of Directors of ASIC, Paris Mr. Gerald Baldwin, President, ASIC Board thanked Coffee Board and the Organizing Committee of ASIC 2004 for their best efforts. On the Occasion, Mr. Gerald Baldwin recalled the significant contributions of Late Dr. R. Coste of France, who was the co-founder of the ASIC Organization along with and Dr. Ernesto Illy of Italy, whose vision was to provide an exclusive platform for the coffee scientist. Applauding their contributions to the ASIC and also to coffee science which formed the guiding spirit for ASIC over the last 30 years, Mr. Baldwin paid tribute to Dr. Coste who expired in the early this year. Mr. Baldwin wished the conference a grand success and meaningful deliberations.

Sri A. Sen Gupta, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Commerce and Industry Govt. of India expressed happiness over the presence of coffee scientists from over 30 different countries.

Observing that the coffee research in India is largely Government funded, he felt that in the coming years the Coffee Board of India should look at research efforts with specific deliverables focusing on critical areas coffee agronomy and issues of market research.

Dr. M.S. Swaminathan, Chairman, National Commission on farmers, Govt. of India and chairman, M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation (MSSRF), Chennai, while delivering a keynote address on the occasion felt that the 20th conference on coffee science is a well timed initiative as the world coffee industry is at cross roads in many respects. He said that in today's world, apart from production issues, there are many other issues like ethical aspects of sharing benefits, the technological aspects of modern genetic engineering and its applications, and also the environmental aspects and need for sustainability and appreciated that the conference will address most of these issues.

Dr. Swaminathan touched upon four key areas (1) facing the challenge of price Fluctuations, (2) Enhancing Global Competitiveness, (3) Coffee Health and (4) Coffee & Prosperity and their Implications for Science, Society and Public Policy.

Elaborating on the first issue, Dr. Swaminathan added that tailoring the production and demand is a must by giving emphasis on quality management by involving international organizations and risk distribution agronomy and practices i.e., distribute the risks across the board with price fluctuations by providing multiple livelihood opportunities to the farmers and encourage them not to put all the eggs in the coffee basket but try for other companion crops that could some extent mitigate the distress situation.

On the second area of global competition, the strategies suggested by the eminent scientist were to go for high yielding genotypes, replanting of aged bushes which passed the production phase, soil nutrition management and quality aiming at matching production and post harvest technology. Value addition like innovative blends, new kind of brands, new kind of coffees are said to be important for profitability of enterprise. In order to achieve sustainability of production process, the suggested priorities are better management of water resources as water was crucial factor especially for blossom, efficiency of production by knowledge intensive farming, market literacy, quality literacy and timely information by utilizing modern information and communication technologies. Mentioning that Biotechnology is another potential area that could be exploited, Dr. Swaminathan said that investments in this area of science should carefully go hand in hand with considerable appreciation for the public viewpoint in relation to genetically modified foods. In this context, the Round Table on International initiative on Coffee Biotechnology programmed as part of ASIC-2004 was well appreciated and hoped that Coffee Board could stimulate the Network along with other international organizations.

On the third area of coffee & Health, he mentioned that better consumer education is the felt necessity as there are evidences of beneficial effects of coffee and also much clarity of understanding on the issues of coffee & health is needed. As regards the fourth area of Coffee & Prosperity, farmers participatory approached and group approach through self help groups in terms of production, marketing micro credit, pathological & pest problems shall be given emphasis which could help in handling many issues like pathological & pest problems, quality standards, organic coffee farming etc.

Dr. Swaminathan expressed confidence that this timely conference on coffee science in the beginning of new millennium and knowledge century, will really show how the onward march of science could really benefit the small coffee grower and the ultimate orientation of all the approaches should be for well being and security of farmers and farm families. Lastly, DR. Swaminathan opined that inspite of the present day intellectual property issues science will never come to a stage where we don't share our views/data with others and hoped that this ASIC conference provides a platform for free exchange of ideas and quoted the famous statement of Einstein, "Unless the products of our brain do good to the people, they will be a curse rather than blessing".

Earlier, Ms. Lakshmi Venkatachalam, Chairperson, Coffee Board, welcomed the distinguished guest, invitees, scientist and delegates for 20th International Conference on Coffee Science.

Acknowledging the consistent support received from the Ministry and also the ASIC Board in organizing the event, the Chairperson said that the delegates will have very comprehensive discussions over a wide range of subjects and the conference would serve the purpose of being a very good and useful platform for sharing experiences of a range of international efforts and hopefully identify some approaches towards achieving a sustainable coffee economy, world wide. Dr. Jayarama, Director of Research, Coffee Board of India proposed formal vote of thanks.

After the formal inaugural ceremony, an inaugural lectures session was arranged where in Mr. Nestor Osorio, Executive Director, International Coffee Organization, London made a presentation on 'Coffee World Economy'. Ms. Lakshmi Venkatachalam made a presentation on the topic 'An overview of Coffee industry in India'.

Technical Sessions

The 5-day conference had as many technical sessions one each on Coffee and Human Health, Chemistry (Green Coffee Chemistry and Cup Quality, Roast Coffee Chemistry and Cup Quality), Processing (Moisture Management for Mould Prevention in Green Coffee, Post-harvest Processing, Coffee Roasting & Processing), Biotechnology (Genomics, Molecular Biology, Breeding, Biochemistry and Physiology) and Agronomy (Breeding & Selection, Agricultural Practices, Pests & Diseases). Nearly 80 scientific papers were presented orally by the concerned scientists and about 150 papers were presented in poster sessions. The sessions on 'Coffee & Human Health' and 'Moisture Management for mould Prevention in Green Coffee' were conducted as exclusive workshops with specific focus.

In addition, one parallel session on 'Expansion of Coffee Consumption in Producing Countries' was organized exclusively for the benefit of India coffee industry stakeholders like growers, roasters, exporters on 12th October 2004 which was attended by about 60 participants. In this session, Mr. Carlos Brandos from Brazil shared the experiences of Brazil in promotion of coffee consumption in the internal market by utilizing the positive information available on coffee & human health.

A Round Table on Coffee Biotechnology was also organized on the October 13, 2004 in which the biotechnologists attending the conference have participated. The main objective of the round table was to discuss the International cooperation on coffee biotechnology through a network on areas of immediate relevance to global coffee industry.

Valedictory Address

In his valedictory address, Mr. Gerald Baldwin, President of ASIC Board, Paris thanked Ms. Lakshmi Venkatachalam, Chairperson, Coffee Board of India and Dr. R. Naidu, former Director of Research, Coffee Board for all the arrangements and successful conductance of the scientific conference in India and complimented all the participants for excellent presentations and lively interaction. Mr. Baldwin informed the house that Dr. Ernesto Illy had been nominated as the Honorary President of ASIC for life and Mr. Andrea Illy would be the next President of ASIC. It was indicated that the next ASIC conference would be held at Montpellier, France in 2006.

As a token of encouragement the Organizing Committee of ASIC 2004 and ASIC Board sponsored 29 scientists from different developing countries like Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ethiopia, Ghana, India, Ivory Coast, Indonesia, Kenya, Portugal, Tanzania and Togo, to attend the ASIC 2004 conference at Bangalore, India and present their research findings. The sponsorship included round the trip air travel, registration fee and also hotel accommodation for the conference period. Besides, four Indian scientists whose papers have been permitted to participate in the conference by way of waiver of registration fee.

Overall the ASIC-2004 Conference received a very good response both from the international coffee scientific community as well as the industry circles. In all 286 registered delegates comprising scientists, academicians, industrialist and traders connected with coffee from about 30 different countries participated in the deliberations. The efforts of the Indian Coffee Board in organizing the ASIC 2004 was well appreciated and applauded by each and every delegate and the ASIC 2004 held at Bangalore was a memorable event in the annals of both ASIC Board, Paris and the Indian Coffee Board.