Osing Culture Drives Economy Through Astra's Kemiren Prosperous Village Programme

The Desa Sejahtera Astra Kemiren programme, implemented in the Osing Traditional Tourism Village of Kemiren, Banyuwangi Regency, East Java, is driving the local economy through a culture-based economic model. Mohammad Edy Saputro, the programme’s facilitator, stated that culture is the community’s primary asset for creating business opportunities, as the village lacks natural attractions such as mountains or beaches. “We don’t have mountains, nor do we have a beach. We don’t even have picturesque terraced rice fields or anything like that. But we have culture,” Edy said in Banyuwangi on Friday. Edy, familiarly known as Eday, explained that the Osing cultural potential has been developed into various tourism packages, ranging from culinary and educational tours to live-in programmes and meeting, incentive, convention, and exhibition (MICE) activities, which further open doors to business opportunities for residents. The majority of Kemiren’s residents still work as rice farmers. However, according to him, culture-based tourism has become a reliable source of income amidst the uncertainty of the agricultural sector. “The majority are rice farmers. Entering the tourism sector is actually one of the ways that is currently relevant given the uncertain state of agriculture. Tourism can provide a way to earn a more stable and easier income,” he said. He noted that the economic benefits have been felt by villagers involved as homestay owners, as well as micro, small, and medium enterprise (MSME) actors, tour guides, artists, and providers of culinary services and cultural education activities, some of whom are members of the Tourism Awareness Group (Pokdarwis). To illustrate demand, Kemiren Village recently hosted around 157 students from 11 cities for a four-day live-in programme. On the same day, the village was also scheduled to receive 52 tourists from Jakarta through a travel agent for a package including a traditional Osing lunch, a lesung music performance, coffee roasting education, and batik making. In the live-in programme, tourists stay in residents’ homes and participate in community activities, such as cooking Osing cuisine, making kue kucur cakes, playing traditional music, batik making, coffee roasting, and learning about local farming activities. Beyond selling tourism experiences, the community also develops various MSME products. One flagship product is Kopi Kemiren Jaran Goyang, which began development in 2013, leveraging the Osing community’s coffee-drinking culture as a product identity. Although the Arabica coffee beans come from the Ijen Plateau and Robusta from the northern Banyuwangi region, the processing, packaging, and marketing are carried out in Kemiren. The coffee product is marketed through souvenir shops and various online marketplaces at a price of around Rp40,000 per package. Besides coffee, the community also develops kue kucur, kue klemben, banana sale, batik, and various other MSME products as part of the tourism village economy. This culture-based economic development is strengthened through the Desa Sejahtera Astra Programme, which began assisting Kemiren Village in 2024. Head of Corporate Communications at PT Astra International Tbk, Windy Riswantyo, said the assistance in Kemiren Village is part of Astra’s social contribution, which has collaborated with over 1,500 Desa Sejahtera Astra across 35 provinces in Indonesia. In Kemiren, the programme has reached around 300 residents, supporting the development of 50 homestays with a total of 92 rooms, involving 40 local business actors and 40 Pokdarwis members until June 2026. Windy said the programme has also contributed to an increase in the average income of Pokdarwis members by approximately 33 per cent, from Rp1.5 million to Rp2 million per month. During the 2024-2026 period, the Osing Traditional Tourism Village of Kemiren has consistently received over 3,000 tourist visits annually, both domestic and international. The assistance also covers waste management, the utilisation of livestock waste into organic fertiliser, the construction of two biogas facilities, and strengthening community capacity in developing a culture-based tourism village. Since 2019, the Osing Traditional Tourism Village of Kemiren has recorded various achievements in tourism and culture, including the Wonderful Indonesia Impact, the Indonesian Tourism Village Award (ADWI) from the Ministry of Tourism, the ASEAN Tourism Award 2025, and selection in The Best Tourism Village Upgrade Programme 2025.