Fighting for Coffee Farmers

Chatarina Sri Pujiastuti was affected when she saw that coffee farmers in Baturetno village, Dampit sub-district, Malang regency, East Java, were unable to deal with coffee collectors (middlemen).

KOMPAS/HENDRA A SETYAWAN

Chatarina Sri Pujiastuti

Chatarina Sri Pujiastuti, 50, was affected when she saw that coffee farmers in Baturetno village, Dampit sub-district, Malang regency, East Java, were unable to deal with coffee collectors (middlemen). So she organized the farmers to fight through a cooperative. Through this, the farmers can now determine the price of their coffee, not the collectors.

Chatarina Sri Pujiastuti, aka Katrin, was not actually born a farmer. Her father was a teacher from Yogyakarta who in 1960 moved to Baturetno to help open a pioneering elementary school. Her father then settled in a village located in the south of Malang. While in Dampit, Katrin grew up between coffee plantations. Baturetno and surrounding areas are the locations of coffee plantations and an old coffee factory from the Dutch era.

Katrin witnessed the difficulty of her relatives and neighbors in conducting their coffee farming. Some of them farmed only to continue the tradition of their families, while others ran their coffee plantations seriously. However, in the end, they all suffered because prices were very low.

One thing Katrin has observed throughout her life is that the villagers of Baturetno are advanced in coffee farming. In 1989, they already had a village regulation (Perdes) on how to pick coffee fruit.

Under the Perdes, the farmers are required to only pick ripe red beans.  If the coffee beans are not red (i.e. they are picked green), the owners of the garden are subject to sanctions or barred from carrying out coffee farming activities. The regulation was issued to ensure that the quality of coffee from Baturetno remains as good as when the Dutch coffee factory was still active there.

The Perdes also determines working hours or working schedules during the harvest season, including office work. There is an open-closed system at the coffee plantations. The plantations are open at 6:00 a.m. and close at 3:00 p.m. There are village security men (hansip) in charge of overseeing the working hours of the coffee plantations. The working schedule is applied only for 10 days. "The goal is to ensure that none of coffee fruits that are ready for harvest are stolen," Katrin said.

All the struggles and the bitter reality of coffee farming have to be accepted by the farmers. They have no power over price. After the harvest, they turn to the coffee middlemen at the Dampit Market about the price of the coffee they harvest.

KOMPAS/HENDRA A SETYAWAN

Chatarina Sri Pujiastuti

Depends on the middlemen

"I observed that every harvest season, my father and other farmers are very dependent on the middlemen in the market. They have to ask how much their coffee costs. At that time, I thought, ‘Why is not the farmers themselves who determine the price?’ Let the coffee buyer, instead, set the price of their coffee," said Katrin.

With her experiences during childhood, Katrin began trying to break the tradition that has made the farmers suffer. With a coffee plantation inherited by her parent and her own two hectares of coffee plantations, Katrin has been actively involved in coffee farming.

She is active in agricultural training and extension activities. In 2009, Katrin was invited to join the Association of Indonesian Women Farmers in Malang. From there, Katrin realized that as a woman farmer, she could make a change, including by promoting the practice of good coffee planting to get quality coffee in order to be able to set good prices.

Since then, Katrin has carried out a campaign to promote strong coffee farming practices that involve only picking cherries when they are red. Furthermore, she also encourages the farmers to use a processing system, for example, by using organic fertilizer, well drying and other processing activities. During social events, such as a church congregation or gathering of the members of Family Welfare Movement (PKK), Katrin asks if the farmers she has met have already implemented the method of picking red beans.

Cooperative movement

In 2010, Katrin again participated in cooperative activities held by the East Java governor. The main goal of one of the gatherings was to invite farmers to form a cooperative so that they will not face difficulties in raising capital for the cultivation of their coffee plants. At that time, Katrin was encouraged to invite the farmers\' wives to establish a women\'s cooperative, with a goal to help farmers earn capital, save and manage themselves within the cooperative. Initially, the number of the wives of Baturetno farmers who agreed to join was only 20.

Katrin used a personal approach, visiting them at in person at houses, to invite the women to join the cooperative. Katrin led the effort herself because her husband died in 2011. "Initially many refused because they felt it would benefit them. They were afraid the activities in the cooperative would affect their task of helping the husband at the plantation. However, after a certain time, they became aware that the activities were not disruptive and instead useful," said Katrin. As time went on, the women’s cooperative increased to 69 people.

"The initial capital given by the governor in 2010 was Rp 25 million. Two years later, our cooperative was given an additional capital injection of Rp 25 million. Now, our total assets have reached Rp 151 million with members reaching 69 people," said Katrin who is a chairperson of the Baturetno women\'s cooperative.

Katrin not only takes care of the women\'s cooperatives in her village. She also carries out her activities in two other villages, namely Srimulyo and Sukodono. Together with other “red-pick” farmers, they established the Association of Sidonoretno (Srimulyo, Sukodono, and Baturetno) Coffee Farmers, or SDR.

The efforts of Katrin and her friends began to bear fruit. They are able to sell red-picked coffee beans at Rp 46,500 per kilogram now. In comparison, the price of the original green coffee beans was only Rp 26,000 per kilogram.

Currently, the volume of coffee produced by SDR members is still 7 tons a year (from 125 farmers). In fact, there is potential for 500 tons. Katrin and her friends continue to encourage farmers to improve their coffee quality. She visits plantations every morning and returns home during the day to promote SDR Dampit coffee.

KOMPAS/HENDRA A SETYAWAN

Chatarina Sri Pujiastuti

Born: Malang, February 17, 1968

Child: Damarwulan Prasetya

Job : Coffee farmer

Organization: The chairperson of the Baturetno Women’s Cooperative  (2010-today); the secretary of farmers group Gapoktan SABC Baturetno (2014–today); the supervisor of the Sridonoretno Makmur Bersama Cooperative (2017-today); member of the Association of Sridonoretno Coffee Farmers (2016-today); supervisor of women farmers group Mahkota Dewi Baturetno (2017-today)