Aidil Fikri, A Cup of Coffee for Farmers

KOMPAS/RHAMA PURNA JATI

Aidil Fikri

Farmers cannot be encouraged simply with words. They must be given evidence and then guided step by step, hands on. That way, they will have the insight to manage their commodities more professionally.

This is the principle that Aidil Fikri, 39, firmly holds when he invites coffee farmers in the social forestry area of South Sumatra to improve and change their mindset for mutual progress. In 2017, Aidil invited Monika, 52, a coffee farmer from Cahaya Alam village, Semende Darat Ulu district, Muara Enim regency, South Sumatra, to take part in the National Social Forestry (Pesona) Festival in Jakarta.

Before heading to the venue, Aidil and Monika stopped by a cafe at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport. At the cafe, Aidil ordered a cup of robusta coffee for Rp 40,000. Monika was surprised to find out that the coffee that had been cultivated so extensively was very expensive.

"From the transaction at the café, I made farmers aware that their labor is only rewarded with a cup of coffee," said Aidil, on Tuesday (9/8/2022).

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At the farmgate level, green coffee beans are currently valued at Rp 18,000 to Rp 22,000 per kilogram for both robusta and arabica.

"From there, I tried to change the mindset of farmers to start managing coffee more professionally," he said.

He has been coaching farmers since 2017 and has continued to expand to five regions in South Sumatra. However, before going into the field in 2017, this father of four children deepened his knowledge of the world of coffee with many discussions with coffee activists and sought references and information from various sources, including books and the internet.

Before entering the world of coffee, Aidil was mostly involved in the culinary and photography business. After developing sufficient knowledge, under the auspices of the non-governmental organization Hutan Kita Institute (Haki), Aidil began to guide coffee farmers in the targeted areas.

The first area Aidil targeted was Cahaya Alam village. The first step he took was to build a strong foundation by establishing farmers’ institutions. He was of the view that, with the right institutions, the process of educating farmers would run much more effectively. One example is Cahaya Alam village itself, which institutionally uses a social forestry scheme.

I tried to change the mindset of farmers to start managing coffee more professionally.

This village received legal recognition from the government in the form of Decree No. 326/Menhut-II/2014 on 27 March, 2014. The area is 900 hectares.

However, more massive coffee processing was carried out in 2017. After the institution was formed, demonstration plots were built in 2018 as a means of education for farmers. On an area of 6.5 hectares, farmers grow various types of organic vegetables. For two years, he used 2 hectares of land to plant arabica coffee at an altitude of 1,400 meters above sea level (masl). There, Aidil guides the farmers to manage coffee properly, starting from the process of growing organic coffee to more professional post-harvest management. Farmers are invited to pick ripe coffee in the form of red beans with an interval of about 15 days of picking.

This is followed by the cleaning process, drying the coffee beans at a coffee drying house at a certain temperature for 20 days, until the marketing process. Two years after planting, arabica coffee can be harvested.

KOMPAS/RHAMA PURNA JATI

Aidil Fikri

Cultivation pattern

At every red bean picking, the coffee plantation, which is at an incline of 30 degrees, produces red coffee beans, or cherries, weighing 20 to 40 kg per hectare. Farmers' coffee yields are valued at up to Rp 80,000 per kg for red-picked arabica coffee and Rp 47,000 for red-picked robusta coffee. This price is much higher than the offer from middlemen, which ranges from Rp 18,000 to Rp 22,000 per kg.

Seeing that their coffee is valued at a higher price, farmers in Cahaya Alam village are more enthusiastic about growing and processing coffee well. The success of coffee management in Cahaya Alam village became the capital for Aidil to apply the same planting pattern in several other coffee centers, such as Lahat regency, South Ogan Komering Ulu, Musi Rawas and Pagar Alam city, which started in 2021.

The training was deemed to have yielded results. Currently, there are many farmers who produce arabica or robusta coffee for the premium class. This is indicated by the mushrooming of shops in Palembang that offer a number of premium products from coffee producing centers in South Sumatra.

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There are even importers from several European countries that offer cooperation to supply red coffee berries from South Sumatra in the range of 50-100 tons per month. However, the offer is constrained by the productivity of the coffee fields in South Sumatra which are not yet optimal.

"One hectare of coffee land in South Sumatra only produces 1 ton of coffee beans per year," he said.

This is low compared to Vietnam and Brazil, whose coffee plantations can produce up to 4 tons per hectare per year. Therefore, according to Aidil, the coaching of farmers must be continued considering the high potential of the coffee market.

"That way, farmers can prosper," he said.

Despite having great coffee potential, South Sumatra's export volume is still very low. This is because South Sumatra does not have a deep sea port.

Improving post-harvest management and trading systems for coffee commodities by going to the field directly can strengthen family ties with farmers. During a visit to the target area, Aidil can spend 3 to 15 days. This long time is used to talk with the farmers to find out the problems that plague them. Many of them frankly admit that they are still stuck in the middlemen's trap or that their children are reluctant to become farmers because a stigma has been formed that farmers will live in misery.

"From that discussion, the right solution was found," he said.

I hope the grade of coffee in South Sumatra can go up.

For example, they determined methods to help farmers’ coffee beans fetch a decent price so that the farmers’ had the capital to replant without having to fall into debt to middlemen. In addition, Aidil also invites young people around the target centers to be involved in the coffee trade system from upstream to downstream. As a result, some of the farmer's children decided to manage their family's farm, including participating in post-harvest management and marketing.

"That way, the length of the supply chain can be reduced because farmers can be directly connected to the market," he said.

With this effort, Aidil hopes that coffee from a number of producing regions in South Sumatra can be widely known in the international arena.

"I hope the grade of coffee in South Sumatra can go up," he said, continuing to sip his coffee with only half a cup left.

This article was translated by Hendarsyah Tarmizi.

Aidil Fikri

Born: Palembang, 13 July, 1983

Education:

- SDN 1 Pemulutan, Ogan Ilir regency

- SMPN 35 Palembang - SMA PGRI 12 Jakarta - Diploma in Economics, Sriwijaya University

Employment: Assistant in Business Technology at the Hutan Kita Institute