Ethical Coffee- the Future of Indonesian Coffee?
Many people know Indonesia is a major coffee producer. What they may not know is over 85% of the coffee is grown by small-hold, part-time coffee farmers. New Zealander native Alun Evans, and his local team, have been working towards improving the livelihood of the small grower through inventive marketing and taking Indonesian Arabica to the world.
Jakarta, Indonesia, October 07, 2005 --(PR.com)-- Recently we had the privilege of being able to share some of our Java experience with a group of coffee experts from the Philippines. Java is essentially Indonesian Coffee 101- as it is logistically not difficult to get to or to navigate around the coffee areas on this island. Part of the visit was to show our visitors a range of both plantation and small-hold, or village grown coffees.
One of our earliest, and ongoing projects is with a village located in Central Java. In 2002, when we first visited the place, we were taken back by the great Arabica being grown there- as well as the genuine friendships we made with the villagers. The Javanese living outside the cities and big towns are still very much the Javanese of yesteryear. They follow the rituals of the culture- politeness, etiquette and dedication to the way of life that has existed in the Island for over 1000 years.
The first time we visited the village we spent time with the village head and some of his koperasi leaders and workers. We also spent a time with the woman of the village- working with them through their daily routines- from early morning prayers, working with the crops, preparing meals etc. In 2002 the village was a happy place, but economically they were struggling as a result of the prolonged economic crisis.
One of our key observations back in 2002 was the need to improve processing techniques as well as pruning the trees after the crops had been harvested. Typically Arabica grown organically does not have the same high yields year-after-year. There is normally a low yield year after at the most two higher yielding crop seasons. This often leads to problems as the revenue stream from coffee will not be enough to sustain the village in a poorer yielding season. Fortunately the Javanese soils and climate give some options to small-hold farmers to be able to diversify. Often this means they will grow other crops- (for example Papaya) to at least give them other marketable goods that can be sold in the local markets.
In 2002 the Arabica from the village was dry processed. The village as a whole was harvesting coffee over quite a large area- mixing several sub-types of Arabica during processing, as well as often inadvertently adding Robusta into the mix. We helped identify areas of the village that we thought had well managed Arabica trees, producing good quality cherries. We also identified some areas where the trees were non productive, damaged by disease or simply not cared for by the sub-level cooperative. These areas were removed from production and moved into other crops. The areas that remained were then mapped and responsibility was given to a team to oversee the management of the coffee all year round. The Kepala Dusun (head of the village) spent some time studying coffee production and growing techniques at a government school in East Java. What he learnt in terms of pruning and crop management techniques made a huge difference to the quality of the trees- from planting distances, thinned out shading systems (too much shade, at altitude, is not great for Arabica!), planting new Nitrogen fixing trees- to moving processing to a semi-wet system.
In 2003 we took our first commercially viable lots of coffee from the village. Both 2003 and 2004 proved to be exceptional years for production. The yields were very good, and the cupping quality was superb. Despite the fact that globally coffee prices were suppressed, we were paying the village a good return for the green coffee. A premium payment for good green bean is a very visible return after decades of being paid very little by brokers. Our philosophy has always been to try and manage returns to our growers on two levels- one for green (based on pre-agreed standards- management of coffee trees- through the harvesting, drying, processing and ultimate packing of the green coffee) the other based on a return on profit of the roasted sales. While we are not insistent on controlling how the money is spent from green purchases (we do have a transparent way of distributing the payment though), we do have a very strict method for funneling the share of the profit from roasted sales back into the village.
In 2003 we were asked to help the village with some ideas on how they could spend the money they got from green bean sales. We mooted some thoughts, but really the village itself should take credit for how the money was ultimately spent. A small herd of dairy cows was purchased- with the aim being to be able to provide the village with milk as well as giving them the option of being able to sell the excess milk in the market. With the village being located at a good altitude, milk production from the herd was at an acceptable 10litres/cow/day. The herd was initially housed in a small barn- which was plugged into the coffee eco-system. The manure from the cows was collected and used as fertilizer for the coffee. At the other end the outer skin from the coffee being processed was mixed with grass and given to the cows as feed.
This year the coffee yields have been less, as expected. Java has had some climatic factors effecting production, as well as the cyclical nature of the crop. The village has still done well though. The herd size is now up to 56 dairy cows- producing enough milk for our village, as well as most of the surrounding villages. The spin off of the coffee project to date has been the fact that we have managed to work with the whole village to provide an economically sustainable, balanced system that has its roots in coffee. We have been able to demonstrate with this model that coffee can not only earn the growers a good return- but with responsible management of the returns from quality coffee, further economic development is a certainty.
From an environmental point of view, organic practices make sense throughout this system. Using manure from the cows as fertilizer and feeding back organic wastes as feed for the dairy herd means that there is a closed system at work that benefits the villagers as well as local consumers… and of course our coffee buyers all around the world.
From now through to the harvest of the crop in 2006 we have plenty of work planned at the village. We also have some further plans for developing new markets for the village and their produce. We would like to take the model we have worked on here and also implement it in some of the other small-hold localities we get coffee from. There are 4 other projects that are in different stages of progression- even this village still has a long way to go until we reach the goals- both coffee related, as well as social and economic.
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One of our earliest, and ongoing projects is with a village located in Central Java. In 2002, when we first visited the place, we were taken back by the great Arabica being grown there- as well as the genuine friendships we made with the villagers. The Javanese living outside the cities and big towns are still very much the Javanese of yesteryear. They follow the rituals of the culture- politeness, etiquette and dedication to the way of life that has existed in the Island for over 1000 years.
The first time we visited the village we spent time with the village head and some of his koperasi leaders and workers. We also spent a time with the woman of the village- working with them through their daily routines- from early morning prayers, working with the crops, preparing meals etc. In 2002 the village was a happy place, but economically they were struggling as a result of the prolonged economic crisis.
One of our key observations back in 2002 was the need to improve processing techniques as well as pruning the trees after the crops had been harvested. Typically Arabica grown organically does not have the same high yields year-after-year. There is normally a low yield year after at the most two higher yielding crop seasons. This often leads to problems as the revenue stream from coffee will not be enough to sustain the village in a poorer yielding season. Fortunately the Javanese soils and climate give some options to small-hold farmers to be able to diversify. Often this means they will grow other crops- (for example Papaya) to at least give them other marketable goods that can be sold in the local markets.
In 2002 the Arabica from the village was dry processed. The village as a whole was harvesting coffee over quite a large area- mixing several sub-types of Arabica during processing, as well as often inadvertently adding Robusta into the mix. We helped identify areas of the village that we thought had well managed Arabica trees, producing good quality cherries. We also identified some areas where the trees were non productive, damaged by disease or simply not cared for by the sub-level cooperative. These areas were removed from production and moved into other crops. The areas that remained were then mapped and responsibility was given to a team to oversee the management of the coffee all year round. The Kepala Dusun (head of the village) spent some time studying coffee production and growing techniques at a government school in East Java. What he learnt in terms of pruning and crop management techniques made a huge difference to the quality of the trees- from planting distances, thinned out shading systems (too much shade, at altitude, is not great for Arabica!), planting new Nitrogen fixing trees- to moving processing to a semi-wet system.
In 2003 we took our first commercially viable lots of coffee from the village. Both 2003 and 2004 proved to be exceptional years for production. The yields were very good, and the cupping quality was superb. Despite the fact that globally coffee prices were suppressed, we were paying the village a good return for the green coffee. A premium payment for good green bean is a very visible return after decades of being paid very little by brokers. Our philosophy has always been to try and manage returns to our growers on two levels- one for green (based on pre-agreed standards- management of coffee trees- through the harvesting, drying, processing and ultimate packing of the green coffee) the other based on a return on profit of the roasted sales. While we are not insistent on controlling how the money is spent from green purchases (we do have a transparent way of distributing the payment though), we do have a very strict method for funneling the share of the profit from roasted sales back into the village.
In 2003 we were asked to help the village with some ideas on how they could spend the money they got from green bean sales. We mooted some thoughts, but really the village itself should take credit for how the money was ultimately spent. A small herd of dairy cows was purchased- with the aim being to be able to provide the village with milk as well as giving them the option of being able to sell the excess milk in the market. With the village being located at a good altitude, milk production from the herd was at an acceptable 10litres/cow/day. The herd was initially housed in a small barn- which was plugged into the coffee eco-system. The manure from the cows was collected and used as fertilizer for the coffee. At the other end the outer skin from the coffee being processed was mixed with grass and given to the cows as feed.
This year the coffee yields have been less, as expected. Java has had some climatic factors effecting production, as well as the cyclical nature of the crop. The village has still done well though. The herd size is now up to 56 dairy cows- producing enough milk for our village, as well as most of the surrounding villages. The spin off of the coffee project to date has been the fact that we have managed to work with the whole village to provide an economically sustainable, balanced system that has its roots in coffee. We have been able to demonstrate with this model that coffee can not only earn the growers a good return- but with responsible management of the returns from quality coffee, further economic development is a certainty.
From an environmental point of view, organic practices make sense throughout this system. Using manure from the cows as fertilizer and feeding back organic wastes as feed for the dairy herd means that there is a closed system at work that benefits the villagers as well as local consumers… and of course our coffee buyers all around the world.
From now through to the harvest of the crop in 2006 we have plenty of work planned at the village. We also have some further plans for developing new markets for the village and their produce. We would like to take the model we have worked on here and also implement it in some of the other small-hold localities we get coffee from. There are 4 other projects that are in different stages of progression- even this village still has a long way to go until we reach the goals- both coffee related, as well as social and economic.
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Contact
Merdeka Coffee
Alun Evans
+62 21 87962386
www.merdekacoffee.com
Alun Evans
+62 21 87962386
www.merdekacoffee.com
Contact