‘Barista’ on the Slopes of Mt Kelir
Ngadiyanto
A barista’s job is to blend high-quality coffee beverages. Ngadiyanto, 47, has earned the title for fulfilling a much more complicated role: He has empowered coffee farmers on the slopes of Mount Kelir in Semarang regency and brought global fame to the unique Java Mocha coffee variant.
In the beginning, Ngadiyanto, who lives in Sirap hamlet of Kelurahan village, Jambu district, Semarang regency, Central Java, merely wished local coffee farmers could be profitable.
“Around 14 years ago, the coffee price was Rp 4,000 (US 29 cents). This was despite the fact that coffee was highly valuable for local farmers, as it is the mainstay commodity in Sirap,” Ngadiyanto said in early October.
At that time, middlemen dominated the coffee trade in the hillside region, located around 60 kilometers to the south of downtown Semarang. Ngadiyanto was the one who encouraged local farmers to unite as a group and to grow their collective awareness to improve their own welfare. They should work together to market the local coffee in large amounts.
Efforts to raise the awareness among the local coffee farmers in 16 groups began in 2010. Ngadiyanto’s dream was to establish a one-stop marketing center for the Mt Kelir coffee that was produced at community plantations spanning 1,100 hectares in the villages of Kelurahan, Bedono, Gemawang and Brongkol.
According to Ngadiyanto, prior to 1985, most Mt Kelir farmers planted horticultural crops, such as shallots, cassavas, rice and corn. However, these crops degraded the soil and made the hillside prone to landslides, especially in Sirap hamlet, where huge landslide accident occurred in 1975.
Mt Kelir is located 1,300 meters above sea level alongside the main road connecting Semarang and Magelang. The region is sandwiched by huge coffee and cacao plantations.
Unlike the coffee-growing culture that has existed for generations in other villages, farmers in Sirap village only switched to coffee after 1990. Most of the coffee they grow is the Robusta variant. Today, there are 80 farmers who each own a 35-hectare coffee plantation. A single harvest can yield 220 tons of dried coffee beans.
Unfortunately, the commodity’s boom was not accompanied by the development of farmers’ capacity. Almost 80 percent of the 16 coffee farmers’ groups in Mt Kelir were inactive until 2005. One of the reasons for this was that the farmers sold their coffee products to middlemen.
Uniting farmers
After he was elected as head of the Association of Coffee Farmers Groups (Gapoktan) in 2003, Ngadiyanto began working to empower the 3,660 coffee farmers in the 16 farmers’ groups. As association head, it became easier for Ngadiyanto to carry out his mission of establishing a one-stop coffee marketing center. Marketing was done only through the association and no longer individually.
“I asked the heads of all the farmers’ groups to join my initiative. I included them in trainings on improving coffee farmers’ welfare. As a result, the farmers’ groups began to thrive,” Ngadiyanto said.
Mt Kelir Gapoktan marketing officer Suradji, 45, said that Ngadiyanto’s promise of a higher selling price was key to persuading local coffee farmers not to sell their coffee harvests to middlemen. Local farmers used to sell raw coffee at a low price because of their urgent financial needs.
The association was committed to helping farmers cover their financial needs, including children’s school fees and medical bills. The farmers needed only to provide their coffee harvest to the association.
Ngadiyanto said that the association needed funding to establish the one-stop coffee marketing center. This was secured by stopping the sale of coffee harvests to traders or middlemen. Instead, local farmers established business relationships directly with coffee exporters in Magelang, Temanggung and Semarang.
For instance, if the traders purchased local beans at Rp 18,000 per kilogram, the association asked the exporters to buy the beans at Rp 20,000 per kilogram. Three exporters currently cooperate with the association, including Semarang-based PT Taman Delta Indonesia and the Indonesian Coffee Exporters’ Association (AEKI).
Aware of the unique aroma of Mt Kelir’s Robusta coffee, Ngadiyanto then contacted researchers from Yogyakarta’s Gadjah Mada University, who worked with the local farmers to maintain the unique quality and aroma of Mt Kelir’s Java Mocha coffee variant.
This variant has a long history in Central Java’s coffee cultivation. The hilly region of Mt Kelir was covered by vast chocolate plantations during the colonial era.
Farmers were also encouraged to switch to organic fertilizers, which help maintain healthy, high-quality coffee plants. They also optimize the harvest yield to 1.8 tons per hectare.
The association also established coffee processing centers, so farmers no longer sell only raw and green coffee. One processing center has been established in each village to make them accessible to farmers.
These centers are managed by the farmers’ groups and equipped with modern processing facilities. Farmers are now able to produce coffee of various qualities.
Ngadiyanto also encouraged farmers to rejuvenate their coffee plants. In the last 10 years, many coffee plants were rejuvenated upon the seeding assistance from the Central Java and Semarang administrations.
To develop its business scale, Ngadiyanto modified the association into a village economic institution, taking out a soft loan of Rp 850 million from a state-owned enterprise.
Today, Mt Kelir’s Java Mocha coffee is exported to several countries, including Australia, France, Japan, Singapore and South Korea. “Almost 70 percent of our harvest yield is for export. The rest is for the domestic market,” Ngadiyanto said.
Now, the annual economic value of Mt Kelir’s coffee is estimated at Rp 3 billion. Its price is successfully maintained at Rp 28,000 to Rp 30,000 per kilogram. The coffee harvest is also sent to a factory managed by state plantation company PTPN IX.
Now, Ngadiyanto is working with the village youth to manage coffee shops amid Sirap hamlet’s lush coffee plantations. The goal is to make the children of local coffee farmers fall in love with and be proud of the coffee that their parents grow.
