Coffee farmers turn to vegetables amid low prices

Oyos Saroso H.N., The Jakarta Post, Liwa, West Lampung

With coffee prices down 90 percent from their 1997 levels, coffee farmers in West Lampung have begun to plant other crops, mostly vegetables.

In several areas in West Lampung, about half of the coffee plantations have been converted into vegetable farms. Farmers in the village of Padangcahaya village and Balikbukit regency have replaced coffee with chili and tomatoes.

"We're being realistic. What is the use of growing coffee if its price is no better than one kilogram of rice?" said Sugito, who chairs the Ngudi Mukti Mandiri Farmers Group in Padangcahaya. "On top of that, production is declining because of poor harvests."

The price of coffee has remain depressed since 1997, falling to between Rp 2,600 (about 28 U.S. cents) and Rp 2,800 per kilogram from around Rp 30,000.

Indonesian coffee prices have dropped on the international market due to a surge in coffee output in Brazil and Vietnam.

Many coffee producing plantations in West Lampung have turned to vegetables such as chili, tomatoes and sweet potatoes.

Tunggul Simanjuntak, who heads the government's local expansion, rehabilitation and development plantation office, said farmers were turning away from coffee all over West Lampung.

He estimated that 50 percent of the region's coffee growing areas had been converted.

Farmers reportedly started cutting down coffee plants last May, with the affected areas at that time being about 20 percent. It may have reached 60 percent now, according to Ahmad, a farmer from Sumberjaya, West Lampung.

Switching from coffee to vegetables was also costly, said Sumisno, a 47-year-old farmer from Balikbukit. He said he had to raise Rp 20 million per hectare to grow tomatoes, and Rp 7 million to grow chili.

Minister for Industry and Trade Rini Soewandi promised farmers earlier this month that coffee prices would double next year.

She said prices were low because coffee was flooding the world market as producers had not agreed on a export schedule to maintain price stability.

The government has launched a retention program that requires coffee producers to cut exports in order to lift prices in the world market. But the program's impact has been minimal.

Rini said that for the program to be successful, Indonesia needed to cooperate with other Southeast Asian countries, particularly Vietnam.