Study Tour to Klasik Beans Cooperative, Capacity Building for Coffee Farmer in Community Forestry

On April 26th to 28th, 2018, RECOFTC Indonesia accompanied several coffee farmer representatives from Bantaeng and Bulukumba Districts, South Sulawesi Province during a study tour to the Classic Beans Cooperative in Bandung and Garut Districts, West Java Province. This study tour is a part of the 'Community Capacity Building Program in the Development of Social Forestry Enterprises', is a collaboration program between RECOFTC Indonesia and FMU Jeneberang I, FMU Jeneberang II, and local partners. The program is fully supported by RAFT (Responsible Asia Forestry and Trade). 

In the implementation of the program activities, community groups develop coffee products as one of the supporting products for their livelihoods. Coffee farms are managed with agroforestry systems within the forest and the communities’ gardens. To increase their income, farmers are working to improve the quality of their coffee products so they can access the market at a higher price. As part of capacity building for farmers, RECOFTC organized a study tour to Klasik Beans Cooperatives so farmers can learn about coffee farm and cooperative business management in the hope that the business developed by farmers can grow better.

During the 3 days of study tour, participants learned from the coffee experts of the Cooperative Klasik Beans who is one of the best coffee cooperatives in Indonesia and produces coffee products that have high value in the market. From professional instructors, farmers learned about good coffee plantation management with agroforestry and organic systems, processing coffee yields and marketing, cooperative management, partnerships between farmers and government, and gender perspectives in the division of labor in coffee farming. From the 3 days of study tour, the farmers expressed their hope to be able to apply what they learned in Klasik Beans in their area in South Sulawesi.