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On Wednesday, Merz promised Zelenskyy German support in producing long-range missiles on Ukrainian territory in what appeared to be a compromise position. The chancellor promised that financing for the project would be discussed subsequently at the Group of Seven summit to be held in Canada in June.Analyst Michael Bociurkiw of the Atlantic Council think tank told Al Jazeera the pledge was still “pretty significant”, adding that it was one of the first real pledges from Germany to Ukraine. “I think it’s a recognition of Ukrainian capabilities,” he said.

On Monday, Merz had spoken to the public broadcaster WDR about the range restrictions enforced by NATO members and said there were “no longer any range restrictions for weapons that have been delivered to Ukraine – neither by the British, nor by the French, nor by us, and not by the Americans either”.Merz did not explicitly say that Germany would send the Taurus to Ukraine, but his comments sent many analysts into a speculative frenzy. On Tuesday, Merz clarified that he was specifically referring to his support for Ukraine’s right to strike deep inside Russia.“Hence yesterday in Berlin, I was describing something that already happened months ago,” Merz said.

Merz’s comments, however, attracted criticism from the SPD and from within his own CDU. Some said his statements and actual reality are contradictory.CDU lawmaker Roderich Kiesewetter said in a post on Tuesday on X that Germany was “irrelevant” in the long-range missile conversation because it has refused to send Ukraine the Taurus and he saw no willingness to do that under the current coalition.

“Therefore, we should also avoid making contradictory statements on this matter. … I continue to see no unity in the coalition and no political will to act appropriately and with strength and consistency in response to Russia’s massive escalation. Such statements are therefore overall unhelpful because they highlight Europe’s weakness to Russia,” he wrote.

Also on Tuesday, SPD head and Vice Chancellor Lars Klingbeil said at a news conference that there had been no policy change regarding delivering German weapons to Ukraine or the restrictions on their use.Limakumzak Walling, a 40-year-old farmer, recalled how his late father was one of the first to grow Arabica coffee in 1981 on a two-acre farm on their ancestral land in Mokokchung district’s Khar village. “During my father’s time, they used to cultivate it, but people didn’t find the market,” he said. “It was more of a burden than a bonus.”

Before the Nagaland government took charge of coffee development, the Coffee Board would buy produce from farmers and sell it to buyers or auction it in their headquarters in Bengaluru, Karnataka. But the payments, said Walling, would be made in instalments over a year, sometimes two. Since he took over the farm, and the state department became the nodal agency, payments are not only higher but paid upfront with buyers directly procuring from the farmers.Still, profits aren’t huge. Walling makes less than 200,000 rupees per annum (roughly $2,300) and like most farmers, is still engaged in jhum cultivation, the traditional slash-and-burn method of farming practised by Indigenous tribes in northeastern hills. With erratic weather patterns and decreasing soil fertility in recent decades, intensified land use in jhum cultivation has been known to lead to further environmental degradation and greenhouse gas emissions, exacerbating climate change.

“Trees are drying up and so is the mountain spring water,” Walling told Al Jazeera, pointing at the evergreen woods where spring leaves were already wilting in March, well before the formal arrival of summer. “Infestation is also a major issue and we don’t use even organic fertilisers because we are scared of spoiling our land,” he added.And though the state government has set up some washing stations and curing units, many more are needed for these facilities to be accessible to all farmers, said Walling, for them to sustain coffee as a viable crop and secure better prices. “Right now we don’t know the quality. We just harvest it,” he said.