East Java coffee farmers prosper amid crisis<\/p>\n
By Lewa Pardomuan<\/p>\n
SIDOMULYO, East Java (Reuters): Not all Indonesians have
\nsuffered so badly in their country's economic collapse. In fact,
\ncoffee growers are doing rather nicely.<\/p>\n
At the start of 1980, farmers living in this hilly and quiet
\nIndonesian village were too poor to buy the staple rice. Instead,
\nthey ate dried cassava, which they cultivated on their farms.
\nThen coffee started to change their lives.<\/p>\n
\"We used to live in a hut with a thatched roof. But now, even
\nduring the economic crisis, we are surviving,\" said Masduki, a
\ncoffee farmer in Sidomulyo, about 230 km (140 miles) east of
\nSurabaya, the provincial capital of East Java.<\/p>\n
Thanks to the massive fall in Indonesia's currency over the
\npast two years, coffee growers are now paid many more rupiah for
\ntheir product, which is priced internationally in U.S. dollars.<\/p>\n
\"We feel blessed during the crisis. When we have guests we can
\neasily boil water for them because we have a gas stove. We can
\nafford to buy a television too,\" Masduki, wearing a light purple
\nsarong and a black songkok, a traditional hat, told Reuters
\ninside his brick house near his coffee plantation.<\/p>\n
Thatched-roof huts have become a thing of the past in
\nSidomulyo.<\/p>\n
\"In the past, no one from this village could afford to go on
\nthe haj pilgrimage to Mecca. Now, there are plenty. I plan to do
\nit when God wants me to,\" said the 59-year-old father of two as
\nhe puffed a clove cigarette.<\/p>\n
There are about 5,000 families in Sidomulyo, a village in
\nJember regency -- the key coffee growing area in East Java -- and
\nmost of them grow coffee. Masduki owns 3,200 robusta coffee trees
\nin a two-hectare plot and currently leads a communal workshop.<\/p>\n
\"One day, I want to become an exporter,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Farmers are producing more coffee, too. The crop for the
\n1998\/99 coffee season (October-September) is expected to exceed
\n400,000 tones, compared with 360,000 tones estimated for the
\nprevious year.<\/p>\n
Coffee is also grown in Sumatra, Indonesia's top growing area.<\/p>\n
When Masduki started planting robusta coffee in his village in
\n1981, farmers received as little as Rp 1,500\/kg.<\/p>\n
At the start of the economic crisis in 1997, the rupiah traded
\nat Rp 2,400 per dollar and a kilogram of coffee was priced at
\nbetween Rp 4,000 and Rp 5,000.<\/p>\n
Coffee prices continued to rise as the economy deteriorated.
\nCurrent prices are Rp 15,000\/kg with the rupiah hovering at Rp
\n8,800 against the dollar.<\/p>\n
\"The crisis has become the best momentum to promote
\nagribusiness... It is expected to change all the negative
\nperception about agriculture,\" said Handri Suwasono, chairman of
\nthe plantation bureau of the Jember administration.<\/p>\n
\"In the past, people only wanted to deal with such businesses
\nas property. But agribusiness survives during the crisis,\" he
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
Plantations in Jember cover an area of 15,675 hectares (38,730
\nacres). Its 20,000 farmers own around 4,200 hectares (10,400
\nacres) while the rest belongs to state-run and private plantation
\ncompanies.<\/p>\n
Indonesia is one of the world's top producers of coffee,
\ncocoa, rubber, pepper and palm oil, but it is only during the
\ncrisis -- which has ravaged secondary and tertiary sectors --
\nthat people started to realize the importance of agribusiness.<\/p>\n
During the rule of former president Soeharto, Indonesia strove
\nhard to become an industrialized country and neglected
\nagriculture. Soeharto was forced to step down last May amid
\nbloody riots in Jakarta that killed 1,200 people.<\/p>\n
Indonesia never entirely overlooked agricultural production,
\nhowever, and the recent revival has also benefited the officials
\nresponsible for spreading expertise among the farmers.<\/p>\n
\"Farmers will come to us and complain if we are not so active
\nin teaching them how to take care of their coffee,\" said Husni
\nThamrin, one of the officials employed by the local government to
\neducate coffee farmers in Jember.<\/p>\n
\"Actually, our additional income comes from working together
\nwith the farmers. They will give us a tip, say, if we give them
\ninformation about prices and other stuff,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Being civil servants, the educators' income is as little as Rp
\n200,000 a month while a coffee farmer may earn as much as one
\nmillion rupiah a month.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/east-java-coffee-farmers-prosper-amid-crisis-1447893297",
"image": ""
},
"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
}