Promoting Sustainable Coffee Farming in Indonesia
Empowering Smallholder Coffee Farmers
We started several impact-oriented interventions with farmers and businesses in Indonesia's coffee sector. The Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) has worked to change sourcing practices by facilitating discussions between farmers and coffee companies’ purchasing teams.
Indonesia, the world's fourth-largest coffee producer and exporter, is home to 1.78 million smallholder coffee farmers cultivating around 1.2 million hectares of land. Our project in the Bukit Barisan Selatan Landscape, Lampung Province, contributed to sustainable coffee farming practices. We registered 2,795 coffee farmers and mapped their farmland into the Farmer Information System, laying the groundwork for a robust traceability system.
Intensive technical assistance was provided to 749 farmers in Lampung Province (34 farmer groups) to transition to deforestation-free coffee. Implementing Good Agricultural Practices for robusta coffee has demonstrated significant yield improvements, from a baseline of 600-800 kg/ha to 1,000-1,500 kg/ha. Additionally, we introduced agroforestry systems by intercropping coffee with multipurpose tree species such as chili, avocados, cinnamon and durian. This helped to maintain farmers' incomes throughout the year. Support was also extended to develop farmer financial institutions, enhance farmer financial literacy and promote collective marketing.
We studied the feasibility of a blended financing landscape fund and identified the need for four types of loans for farmers to be established. These loans included, replanting loans, farm working capital loans, livelihood loans and collector loans. Additionally, we highlighted the need for mortgages for farmers owning land inside the Bukit Barisan Selatan National Park. Our analysis indicated that they required $6.8 million in loans, with $3.8 million allocated for technical assistance to support sustainable agriculture, food security enterprises and conservation technology initiatives from the Bukit Barisan Selatan National Authority Park. The remaining $3.8 million was identified as needed for credit mechanisms to distribute loan products through implementation partners.
We registered 2,795 coffee farmers in the Olam system. We relied upon photos, farm information, geolocation data sets and the latest survey data to do this. This system enhanced traceability and transparency. It is also fostering trust and accountability in the supply chain.
Through these efforts, we increased sustainable practices in Indonesia's coffee sector, supported smallholder farmers and promoted environmental conservation.