Hope of Independence from a Coffee House
Gold miner PT Freeport Indonesia (PTFI), which has been operating in Mimika for half a century, has been helping the community for 24 years through the Amungme Gold Multipurpose Cooperative (KSU).
Indonesia is one of the fourth largest coffee producing countries in the world. One of the well-known coffees from Indonesia, which is eyed by the world's major coffee franchises, comes from Papua, the name is Amungme Gold coffee.
Amungme Gold is a coffee house located in downtown Timika, Mimika regency. The coffee house marks the determination of farmers of the Amungme tribe, from the Barisan Sudirman Mountains, to stop being dependent on mining.
Ishak Jawame (26), an Amungme youth from Hoya district, is proud of the new coffee house. The lives of local farmers, including his parents, who have been caring for an Arabica coffee community plantation in the highlands since 1998, have entered a new era.
Gold miner PT Freeport Indonesia (PTFI), which has been operating in Mimika for half a century, has been helping the community for 24 years through the Amungme Gold Multipurpose Cooperative (KSU). The farmers received Line-S Arabica coffee seeds and agricultural tools from the company, which also provided training on growing organic coffee.
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Slowly but surely, the program changed the lives of the Amungme people. The tribal community, which previously grew mountain coconuts (Pandanus sp.), has turning into a productive farming community that produces coffee with economic value.
“My father started being a farmer under the guidance of Mrs. Carolyn Cook [who initiated Freeport's Arabica coffee program] when I was two years old. Now, Amungme Gold already has assets, such as an office and other operational facilities," said Ishak at the coffee house on Friday (18/3/2022).
The coffee house, which opened on 14 March 2022 in the Timika city center, is expected to help the cooperative expand its market. Previously, Amungme Gold coffee was only sold through kiosks at the PTFI base camp.
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Anis Huamang (right) and Otto Sawame sort coffee beans before the roasting process at Amungme Gold Coffee House, Timika, Papua, Thursday (17/3/2022).
As it is relatively new, the coffee house does not have a management team yet. Isaac hopes to be part of the management. As an agribusiness graduate from Sam Ratulangi University in Manado, he is qualified to manage the coffee house.
"If there is a job opening, I will definitely apply so that we will have clear organization," he said.
While Ishak is planning for his future, his father Oktovianus Jawame (55) is busy sorting green beans in the sorting room behind the coffee house. The coffee beans are purchased from several villages in the highlands, such as Hoya, Tsinga, Aroanop, Jila, Banti, and Opitawa.
The farmers then separate the beans from the pulp and skin, ferment them for three nights, and then wash and dry them. Raw coffee beans are sold to the cooperative for Rp 85,000 per kilogram.
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Oktovianus’s family earns Rp 2.4 million from selling 20-25 kg of raw coffee beans. Helicopters operated by PTFI are used to transport the semi-processed coffee beans, as it is too dangerous to use land transportation from the highlands to Timika.
The roasted coffee is then packaged in aluminum cases.
The process continues at Amungme Gold Coffee House, from sorting to removing the skin from the beans, and then roasting the dried beans at 220 degrees Celsius. The roasted coffee is then packaged in aluminum cases.
Farmers like Octovianus are involved in processing the coffee and earns around Rp 3.6 million per month.
Oktovianus also found contentment through the coffee house. "I like being a coffee farmer, I can work in a coffee house too," he said in broken Indonesian.
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Cooperative management puts Arabica coffee beans into cloth bags after roasting at Amungme Gold Coffee House, Timika, Papua, Thursday (17/3/2022).
Today, the Amungme Gold Coffee House cooperates with 154 farmers in villages located 2,000 meters above sea level. They cultivate 45,700 coffee plants on around 34.7 hectares of land.
Social investment
The cooperative is part of the PTFI's Highland Agriculture Development (HAD) social investment program. In 2019, the company disbursed US$6.7 million (Rp 94.77 billion) for HAD programs, which includes fisheries and livestock farms.
KSU Amungme Gold produces 800 kg of roasted coffee beans a year. The head of PTFI's HAD program, Arnoldus Sanadi, said that the income from coffee sales reached around Rp 80 million per month, or Rp 1 billion per year.
Amungme Gold Coffee House is expected to be a foundation for Amungme farmers to achieve independence. They are expected to run the business without PTFI assistance, including processing and sales, as well as managing the coffee house.
Transporting the coffee is often disrupted by the activities of armed criminal groups.
In terms of logistics, the coffee farmers still depend on PTFI to transport their coffee beans to Timika. The company spends Rp 33 million to operate the helicopter. Transporting the coffee is often disrupted by the activities of armed criminal groups.
PTFI still pays Rp 3.6 million per month as wages for 10 of the 154 farmers of KSU Amungme Gold, as they are still registered employees of the company. They will retire at the age of 56, but can continue to be members of the cooperative and enjoy its benefits.
The HAD team faced difficulties in putting together the coffee house’s management team. None of the cooperative’s members had skills in management, administration, bookkeeping or seed processing. Even money as a concept was still new for the cooperative’s members.
On the other hand, Bernard Ansaka, the plantations head of the Mimika Food Crops, Horticulture and Plantation Service, said the regency administration was willing to assist the farmers. Its involvement was important because in 2041, PTFI's special mining license would expire.
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Arabica coffee beans are ready to be sorted before the roasting process at Amungme Gold Coffee House, Timika, Papua, Thursday (17/3/2022).
The collaboration between PTFI and the Mimika regency administration was established. However, for Ishak Jawame, its success depended on the farmers.
“People must have awareness and motivation to grow more coffee trees. If that happens, it's quite possible that we can fulfill the 4-5 tons that the market demands," he said.
(This article was translated by Hendarsyah Tarmizi).
