Tag Archives: coffee

31Jul/24

Local contribution to a sustainable coffee supply chain

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by : Sidiq Harjanto and Vika Bayu Irianto

Coffee has again become a favorite for farmers this year. Prices have suddenly skyrocketed, especially robusta. At the farmer level, just random coffee can reach Rp. 68,000,-/kg. This price certainly varies by region, some are higher or slightly lower. Last year the highest price per kilogram reached around Rp. 45,000,-. This means that there was an increase of more than 40% and reached an all time high.

women role in coffee supply chain

According to the Nikkei Asia report, the crazy price of robusta in the last two years was triggered by several factors. Extreme weather in the form of increasing temperatures and drought is the first trigger factor. This has caused coffee production from major robusta coffee producing countries such as Vietnam and Indonesia to drop significantly. Farmers only produce a small amount of coffee. In fact, as an adaptation to drought, some farmers choose to switch to other more adaptive commodities.

The second factor, when coffee production decreases, demand actually increases. It is reported that there has been a 20% increase in world coffee consumption. The champion is China, where middle class growth is at an all-time high, achieving a 130% increase in demand. Outside China, coffee producing countries such as Vietnam and Indonesia have also experienced a significant increase in demand.

Coffee is a commodity produced by no less than 12 million farmers in many countries. However, Vietnam and Brazil account for more than half of global coffee exports. According to Bloomberg, this has triggered an intensification of market concentration. Coffee producing countries are reorganizing the distribution or sales map of their products.

Risks hidden behind price increases

Very significant price increases tend to motivate farmers to sell coffee as soon as possible due to concerns about missing out on momentum. The worry is that the quality of the coffee produced will actually decline. First, there is a chance for farmers to harvest their coffee before it is completely ripe, while to get good coffee, you have to start from perfectly ripe fruit. Second, post-harvest processes are no longer a priority. Why process it in ways that require extra effort when the price of casual coffee is already very tempting.

Second, there is the possibility of expanding coffee plantations in the future. Farmers are very likely to be motivated to increase the size of their plantations in the hope of increasing the quantity of their production. If there is an expansion of plantations, the remaining forest land could become increasingly compressed. It is no longer a secret that the expansion of coffee plantations is a serious threat to forest areas in our country.

harvesting season 2024

Local contribution of coffee farmers in Javan Gibbon habitat.

The increase in prices is a blessing in itself for coffee farmers, including coffee farmers from around the Javan gibbon forest habitat in Petungkriyono and Lebakbarang subdistricts. These are the farmers who have long partnered with us in efforts to grow sustainable businesses for communities in villages that support primate habitat. Coffee plants have long been an inseparable part of natural forest areas and agroforestry gardens that support Javan gibbon habitat.

post harvesting coffee workshop

This year, Swaraowa together with Owa Coffee facilitated coffee farmers to improve the quality of their harvest. Several programs have been implemented, including facilitating facilities and infrastructure, increasing processing capacity, and efforts to open new market opportunities. Drying domes were built in three coffee producing villages around the Javan gibbon habitat, namely: Kayupuring, Yosorejo, and Mendolo. The aim of facilitating this drying dome is to ensure that the drying process of coffee beans is more controlled and avoids potential exposure to impurities.

Another program that has been implemented is increasing post-harvest processing capacity for farmers and processors. Before the Arabica harvest season, last March to be precise, we gathered together with coffee processors from Tlogohendro, Yosorejo, and Kayupuring to plan production schemes and share knowledge regarding post-harvest processing, and also agree on matters related to the importance of protecting existing forests and wildlife. . In early June, at the same time as the robusta coffee harvest season began, we organized activities to increase the capacity of coffee farmers in Mendolo, a village that has quite large robusta potential. This activity was attended by 15 farmers of various ages.

solar dryer dome for coffee

We believe that one of the keys to success in ensuring the sustainability of the coffee supply chain is maintaining the roles of the parties involved. A little research we conducted last year concluded that there is a tendency for gender roles to be balanced in the coffee production chain in producing villages. Men and women contribute equally, but in different forms of activity. Let’s say men handle more gardening matters, while women have a big role in post-harvest processes such as drying, sorting and roasting. These roles need to be preserved so that no party is marginalized.

Agroforestry for wildlife-friendly farming practices.

Even though coffee prices are currently high, we must be prepared if price corrections come at any time. Rather than intensifying, it would be better to optimize existing coffee land area. The agroforestry scheme and moreover shade-grown coffee, which combines various commodities in one area, is a strategy that can be taken by farmers. Through agroforestry, farmers produce not just one commodity. For example, one land contains coffee, durian, jengkol, banana plants, etc. Thus, when there is a correction in coffee prices, farmers still have other commodities whose prices may actually increase.

Javan gibbon (Hylobates moloch)

At the beginning of this year, Swaraowa also collaborated with the stingless bee keeping community in Mendolo to plant Pucung or kepayang fruit. Pucung is planted in border areas, or as an intercrop in agroforestry gardens. Through this planting, there is the potential for diversification of farmers’ products; and on the other hand, it is hoped that it can improve the quality of habitat for wild animals, especially primates. Mendolo itself is a habitat for five species of primates: Javan gibbon, Javan langur, rekrekkan, long-tailed monkey and Javan slow loris.

16Apr/23

The Mendolo Coffee Meet and the Role of Women in the Coffee Tradition

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By Sidiq Harjanto, translated by T.T. Chan

traditional coffee processing in Mendolo

On 18 and 19 March 2023, SwaraOwa/ KopiOwa partnered with PPM Mendolo to organise the ‘Mendolo Coffee Meet’ event. We had three items on our agenda – roasting coffee together, discussing the relevance of biodiversity to women involved in coffee agroforestry in Mendolo Village, and taking local children birdwatching. The first two are the subject of this post.

On the first day of the event, we invited women to explain the nitty-gritty of coffee-related customs in Mendolo, particularly the art of coffee roasting. We likewise engaged women of different ages in discussions about the role women in the village have to play in coffee agroforestry.

Various methods of roasting coffee

Traditional coffee roasting in Mendolo

Coffee has become an integral part of the Mendolo community’s fabric. For locals, coffee is a constantly recurring theme in daily life, being drunk in the morning before they head to the plantations and again in the evening when gathering with family. There is even a special type of coffee called “kopi jembawuk” that is reserved for specific rituals. This coffee is brewed with coconut milk and sweetened with palm sugar.

In recent times, coffee has evolved into a commodity not only consumed locally by the Mendolo community, but also sold beyond the village.

In Mendolo, everyone has their own taste in coffee. While some villagers enjoy plain coffee, others prefer further ingredients being added to their beans during the roasting process. The most common of these ingredients is white rice, as it is said that adding it helps reduce the bitterness of dark roasted coffee beans.

Some locals also add slices of coconut during roasting in a process known locally as ‘nglamir’. Its fans claim that coconut slices bring out a savoury taste in the beans. However, coconut slices are not as commonly used as rice, as the former makes the coffee powder less durable and more prone to turning rancid. For this reason, mixing coconut with coffee is usually done only on special occasions.

The tools used for coffee roasting are relatively simple, comprising a clay or metal pan, a stirring rod or spatula, a sieve and a wooden or gas stove. To start off the roasting process, the pan is heated for about five minutes. Once it is hot enough, approximately 500 g of raw coffee beans are added in, and then stirred continuously using the stirring rod or spatula.

Throughout, these coffee-roasting women closely observe every change in colour, shape and aroma that the coffee beans undergo. As soon as the beans crack and take on a brownish hue, they turn down the heat. The coffee is stirred continuously for as long as it takes to yield the taste that best suits each individual’s preferences. The whole process takes about 20 minutes. Once fully roasted, the coffee is cooled off on a sieve.  The next step is grinding. It involves using a mortar and pestle to crush the beans, which are then passed through a sieve to obtain relatively fine coffee powder.

The Role of Women in the Coffee Tradition

Activities Male Female Equipment

Coffee Land management activities
Land preparation +++ + Hue, sickle
Making plating hole +++ + Hue, wooden for making hole
Coffee planting +++ + Hue
Weeding +++ ++ Sickle, hue
Pruning +++
Grafting +++ Grafter knife
Harvesting ++ ++ bags

Post harvest activities
Coffee pulping ++ ++ Pulper, basket
Drying + +++ Drying sheet
Hulling ++ ++ Rice mill ( Male), Pounder (Female)
Coffee bean sortation +++ Round Bamboo Tray
Coffee Roasting +++ Frying pan, stove, tray
Coffee Pounding +++ Pounder, sieve, basket

Gender contribution in the coffee management chain

In his 1982 book Gender, Ivan Illich argues that the term ‘gender’ does not only denote the difference in sex between males and females, but also refers to the various differences in their social life. These differences include the types of work they do, the tools they employ, their language use and understanding of space-time.

Our focus group discussions revealed that while men and women contribute roughly equally to the coffee supply chain in Mendolo, their roles in it differ noticeably. For instance, men tend to be more involved in managing the coffee plantations, while women play a larger role in post-harvest activities typically carried out around their homes.

Some tasks are gender-specific, such as pruning and grafting, which have traditionally been done only by men. On the other hand, coffee roasting is a skilled role mainly reserved for women, who roast coffee mainly for their own family’s needs and occasionally also those of their neighbours.

Just as Illich stated, differences in the type of work done by each gender imply differences in tools. In this vein, the distinct roles of each gender in the coffee supply chain result in each gender having a different set of tools. Grafting knives are tools exclusively used by men, while mortar and pestle are closely associated with women.

As coffee roasting is a skill specific to the women of the community, we were eager to explore it further. It was noteworthy that among the women present, those who possessed the skill were almost all above 40 years of age.

As the skill is no longer being acquired by the younger generation, Mendolo’s tradition of coffee roasting may soon disappear with the women at our event. To make matters worse, our changing times have also seen a rapidly growing preference to buy factory-packaged coffee. We therefore need to act fast if we are not to lose the art of coffee roasting that Mendolo’s womenfolk are such consummate masters of.

Returning to Illich’s perspective, each gender complements the other in their different roles; the maintenance of everybody’s way of life depends on mutual reciprocity between the genders. It is crucial to realise this so that the balance of roles is perpetuated and women do not experience discriminatory treatment.

Presidential Decree No. 29 of 2000 on Mainstreaming Gender in National Development has put gender issues and upholding the dignity of women firmly on Indonesia’s national agenda.

Just as gender issues are crucial to Indonesia’s national development, so too the role of women needs to be strengthened in efforts to conserve nature. Many studies have in fact shown that involvement of women increases the success rate of conservation initiatives.

Now how do we find the thread that links greater agency for women to the conservation of Javan gibbons and their forests that are also home to various other wildlife? In Mendolo, SwaraOwa endeavours to engage local women through programmes focussing on local food production and stingless bee husbandry. We believe that it is only when women are closely involved in local food production and have alternative sources of income that the pressure human communities exert on forests can be reduced. In other words, developing sustainable livelihoods for women and equipping them with knowledge about forests is key to the success of conservation.

This field report, as part of swaraowa’s coffee and primate conservation project 2023, supported by Mandai Nature , Fortwayne Children’s Zoo and Ostrava Zoo.

 

10Feb/23

The richness of Mendolo Village – Durians and biodiversity

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By Sidiq Harjanto & Kurnia Ahmadin

Durian cultivars in Mendolo ( Foto Ikmal Biolaska)

We believe that a sustainable economy is key to safeguarding the forest habitat of the Javan gibbon. This is why SwaraOwa have made shade coffee (coffee that grows under the natural shade of forest trees), palm sugar and beekeeping ‘core businesses’ of ours. In this, our primary aim is to promote sustainable economic growth for the communities living around the forests inhabited by the Javan gibbon. If we manage to develop these businesses in line with forest conservation efforts, we will demonstrate that it is possible to improve the welfare of local communities without over-exploiting our forests.

In Mendolo Village, we are close partners with the Mendolo Young Farmers Association (PPM Mendolo), who are the driving force for nature conservation in their village. As the younger generation there mostly still practice farming, PPM Mendolo functions as an incubator for them to launch innovative projects at a local level.

Tasting the richness of Mendolo’s durians

Durian has long been a sought-after commodity in Mendolo Village. With its superior taste, Mendolo’s durians also form one of the main pillars of the local economy. However, because this village is quite hard to reach, its durians are not well known among lovers of this tropical fruit.

And so the PPM youth had the idea of transforming their village into an attraction where visitors can enjoy local durian directly at its source. Developing tourism will also boost Mendolo’s reputation as the home of quality durian.

On 15 January 2023, PPM Mendolo invited Biolaska (Students of Biology at UIN Sunan Kalijaga Yogyakarta, IDS (Indonesia Dragonfly Society), and SwaraOwa to research the potential of durians from Mendolo Village. We inventoried and did taste profiling on durians grown by local farmers. Our aim is to produce a catalogue of durian varieties in Mendolo that will most certainly be of use to durian enthusiasts seeking to explore the richness of these durians that are Mendolo’s very own.

From a sample of 24 local durian varieties, we identified different physical and taste characteristics. Fruit shape ranges from perfectly round, to ovoid, to wavy, all the way to pear-shaped. Husk colours include green, yellow and brown. The fruit itself also varies in colour, from white to yellowish white  yellow. In terms of fruit taste, the profiles include sweet, creamy, alcoholic, slightly bitter, and sticky rice. The thickness of the fruit flesh is another variable characteristic.

During our time there, everybody was given a chance to experience ngramban, an activity where food plants growing wild in the forest are collected and then cooked for dinner. That night, we served up no less than 18 dishes. This is a valuable tradition, as preparing food from locally sourced natural ingredients instils in the village community an appreciation for the various wild plants and animals in their surroundings.

The wildlife found in the forests nearby also offers the potential for ecotourism. Wildlife watching has in fact vastly gained in popularity in recent years. In this connection, PPM Mendolo have actively collected data on the avifauna in and around the village, and monitored primates such as the Javan gibbon, Javan langur and Javan slow loris.

Sustainable growth for Mendolo

Our projects in Mendolo were not solely conceptualised as an alternative livelihood for the community, but also as a catalyst for village development. Law No. 6/2014 on Villages has brought about a paradigm shift, with the focus moving away from growing villages to villages growing. This puts villagers in the driver’s seat where village development is concerned. They are irreplaceable with their intimate knowledge of local conditions and history, and are our greatest hope in realising a development trajectory in line with sustainable principles.

Each village is unique in its potential for development. Getting villagers, especially the younger generation, acquainted with their biodiversity and various types of produce, will help spread awareness of how humans can enjoy tangible benefits from working in harmony with nature.

As a simple example, durian plantations do not automatically yield abundant fruit. In order to produce a good crop, farmers need wild birds to provide pest control services, as well as bats to do pollination. If they are made aware of this, the community will naturally want to protect the ecosystem to consistently reap a good durian harvest.

Biodiversity is Indonesia’s greatest asset and certainly also its future, but we need to preserve and manage it properly. For this to work, we must take care of diversity at the species, genetic and ecosystem level. The diversity of durian varieties in Mendolo is an example of diversity management at the genetic level. This diversity can be transformed into capital to develop Indonesia if more people come to appreciate the value of having such a broad range of durian flavours.

24Jan/21

2020 in review: Humming optimism amidst adversity

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Overview

In January 2020, against the backdrop of a nascent pandemic, work continued unabated to organize conservation activities targeted at primates, gibbons in particular. The gibbons in Central Java and the Mentawai Islands form the twin foci of our conservation activities and have provided us strong motivation to step up conservation at the site level.

Javan gibbon landscape

Mentawai – Education & ecotourism

In South Siberut, we initiated a campaign centered on wildlife photography in collaboration with Uma Mentawai Malinggai (UMM), an organization dedicated to preserving local folk art. The campaign aimed to promote photography as a means of preserving culture and biodiversity, and to equip UMM members with new skills. We armed two UMM members with cameras that they used to document local fauna and natural history, and encourage the local community to part with non-traditional hunting practices.

This program has delivered some tangible results, with a book on the birds of Mentawai and another on Mentawai primates having been published. Active collaboration with local residents has also encouraged them to take ownership of their natural environment by serving as ‘paraconservationists’[read report here]. As such, the message we spread emphasized the importance not only of primates, but also of other components of Mentawai’s biodiversity and the value of indigenous culture.

The activities scheduled for January were intended to promote the conservation of primates in Mentawai through primate-watching tours. A promotion had in fact already been launched on a dedicated website (https://wildgibbonindonesia.com/ and a test run had likewise been conducted blending endemic primate species with highlights of local culture. Read the trip report here. However, after a promising start, progress has slowed since March 2020 owing to the pandemic. Being mainly targeted at tourists from abroad, the project has been affected by cancellations of all tours booked at the end of 2019.

Central Java – Cancelled visits

In March 2020, we had been due to receive staff from the Ostrava Zoo and a representative of the Czech ambassador to Indonesia at our project activities in Sokokembang and the village of Mendolo. Both sites play a crucial role in our Coffee and Primate Conservation Project. However, shortly before the event was due to start, an official notice came in from the Regent of Pekalongan that gatherings were to be banned to halt the transmission of coronavirus. We were of course very disappointed, but are glad that we did the right thing by calling the activities off. In the end, we only managed a brief meeting with representatives of the Ostrava Zoo in Pekalongan, who immediately thereafter returned to Jakarta.

Of all our shade coffee and primate conservation projects in 2020, the most badly hit by the pandemic was our collaboration with the Singapore Zoo. Sales of our forest-friendly coffee had ground to a halt there because the zoo café, which carried the product, was forced to close by COVID-19. Our stock of coffee beans piled up in warehouses in Yogyakarta and in the Petungkriyono homes of the growers near the gibbon forests.

the swinging javan gibbon

 Research & networking

May 2020 marked a milestone in the conservation of the Kloss’s gibbon  (Hylobates klossii), with a survey of this Mentawai endemic having been published in the journal Biodiversitas – Journal of Biological Diversity. Findings were first presented at the Indonesian Primate Congress in September 2019, organized by Indonesian Primatological Society.

June 2020 saw the commencement of two important research projects in Sokokembang. Both were spearheaded by tough and dedicated women who feel more at home in the forest and among the communities who live off it than as homemakers without a voice of their own. Pressing on despite the challenges posed by the pandemic, the first is Nur Aoliya from Bogor Agricultural University who studies the Silvery gibbon’s  vocalisation behaviours in the mountainous landscape of the Dieng region. You can find Aoliya’s story here, recounting her search for the diva of the rainforest in the districts of Batang and Pekalongan. The second, Yenni Rachmawati from Airlangga University, researches the Blue-banded kingfisher, one of the world’s most endangered birds  which the SwaraOwa team had found as new record in 2018. Both these research projects are funded by the annual Kopi Owa scholarship program as part of the Coffee and Primate Conservation Project in Central Java. As of early 2021, these projects are still ongoing.

 

Starting where we left off

As we lament no longer being able to travel as we please or meet whoever we want to, perhaps the most important lesson to learn from this global pandemic is that not coexisting with the natural world will only lead to severe socio-economic problems in the long run. Promoting cultural practices that emphasise sustainable consumption and production must be made a topmost priority, even if only on a small scale at first. After all, big things usually have humble beginnings.

Initially beset by numerous delays due to the pandemic, November 2020 saw our work in Mentawai slowly being resumed, targeted at conserving the endemic Kloss’s gibbon. As the erosion of local culture has led to unsustainable hunting practices and the loss of much forest, this work crucially includes providing local teachers training and content on nature conservation and Mentawai traditions.

Not all our activities were publicized on the SwaraOwa website or blog due to limited time for writing. One of the most important achievements for gibbon conservation in Pekalongan Regency was marked by the provincial government initiating a multi-stakeholder forum centered on the management of the Petungkriyono forest area [the initiation was started by this writing]. Although relevant work had already started in 2019, it was only with this forum that a concrete plan emerged, proposing around 5,173.80 ha to be managed collaboratively as an Essential Ecosystem Area.

Looking towards the future: strengthen economy, culture and nature conservation 

stingless bee honey harvesting

The pandemic, giving experience of livelihood program activities with one priority commodity to influence sustainable production and consumption in gibbon habitat’s  is very risky. and now there is also other potential commodity that SwaraOwa is developing in the habitat of gibbons, i.e stingless bee and it’s product development, we started in 2017 and now honey production has begun to stabilize even though it is limited, and motivate the community to involved in wildlife friendly farming practice, colony replication not only multiplied bee hive boxes but also became the start of a social, economic and ecological movement  around the forest.

We closed 2020 with the launch of Owa Bilou Coffee, a commercial project named after the Kloss’s gibbon endemic to Mentawai. It aims to further conservation work on primates, to involve local community on sustainable economic activities, especially the gibbon which is its namesake, its to trigger promoting local commodities and team in Mentawai that can be benefit for community and nature it’s self.

Thanks to all people, agency, local government in Central java and Mentawai,  who involved during 2020 activities, special thank you to our donors Fortwayne Children Zoo, Wildlife Reserve Singapore, Ostrava Zoo, and Arcus Foundation.

Having bade 2020 a bittersweet goodbye, we welcome 2021 with renewed optimism and resolve.