I Komang Sukarsana, Empowered by Kintamani Coffee

KOMPAS/AYU SULISTYOWATI

I Komang Sukarsana

I Komang Sukarsana, a young man from Songan village, Bangli regency, Bali, has proven that being a farmer is fun and something to be proud of. Since 2010, he has loyally worked on the Kintamani Arabica coffee plantation. His coffee products have penetrated international markets and exhibitions.

Come on, be a farmer! Sukarsana often invited young Balinese who were anxiously waiting for job vacancies. He never gives up inviting them to join him. To produce Bali Arabica coffee, he employs more than 200 youth and around 30 housewives in the processing of Bali Arabica coffee.

The father of two children started producing 500 kilograms of Kintamani Arabica coffee beans in 2013. As of January, he had produced an average of 15 tons of coffee per year, supplying national and international markets. He also did not stop experimenting and innovating with Kintamani coffee.

“I want Kintamani coffee to not just be known for its thick, sour taste. With innovation and research, Kintamani coffee beans have other tastes. We must continue to be empowered and develop,” said Sukarsana at the Bali Arabica outlet in Ubud, Gianyar regency, in early January.

He proved himself able to be empowered and independent by launching a copy of his brand, Bali Arabica, in 2013. He tried to introduce the original Kintamani Arabica coffee, the sour taste of which cannot be found in other coffee beans in the world. The price of coffee, which was worth Rp 40,000 per kilogram of coffee beans, has now reached around

Rp. 120,000 per kilogram. Sukarsana is consistent with Kintamani coffee, which received a geographical indication in 2007.

Another great ambition is to make the village youth unite to develop the village together. “We sometimes forget the potential of the village. Instead, we rely on job opportunities in urban areas,” he said quietly.

Not stopping at coffee, Sukarsana also expanded to establish the Sari Pertiwi Farmers Group in Songan village. This group is engaged in horticulture plants, especially shallots, and is fostered by the Bank Indonesia Representative Office in Bali. He,along with dozens of group members, founded the Songan Shallot House. The house for the education center about shallots in Kintamani has Prima Tiga premium certified products and produces various processed shallots.

Without thinking

After graduating with a bachelors degree in education in 2007, he was once a non-permanent teacher at one of the first junior high schools in Kintamani. Three years with no certainty about the prospect of being recruited as a civil servant, he stopped teaching. He decided to focus on farming like his father.

Sukarsana once sold vegetables, which he took from his father’s plantation, and also runs Mujair Kintamani restaurant in Ubud.

Once in 2010, there were foreign guests who came and ate at his restaurant. The person asked him to find someone who knew about delicious and authentic Balinese coffee.

“Without thinking, I agreed. At that time Kintamani coffee was the answer,” recalled Sukarsana. It was only that coffee that crossed his mind.

The guest agreed. Sukarsana asked the foreigner to teach him English as a payment for his salary. “It turned out to be the beginning of my life now,” he said excitedly.

He also decided to close the small restaurant and chose to spend his time totally on coffee. Since the meeting with his foreign guest, who was from the Five Sense Company, he started a new life by accepting an offer to become a coffee quality control officer in Ulian Murni Subak, Ulian village and Subak Kertawaringi, Mabi, Belantih village.

He learned a lot when working at a foreign coffee company. As a partner, he represents the company teaching how to prepare seeds, cultivate coffee, process the coffee according to export standards and assist the farmers in the programs being developed by the company.

It was a pride that the coffee produced by the company and its partners received the third best coffee recognition in the Indonesian specialty coffee contest in Kuta in 2011.

Since then, coffee is his life. Every day, his love for Balinese coffee thickens. “I never stop asking friends, relatives, youth everywhere to be the pride of the village through farming or gardening. Coffee can be an option or any crop, I am ready to help and to accompany,” he said firmly.

In 2012, Sukarsana met with officials of the Bank Indonesia Representative Office of Bali Province at the Indonesian Coffee Festival in Ubud. He accepted a one-door market offer for Kintamani coffee from BI. The program is running and is formed by the coffee cooperative MPIG (Society for Geographical Indication Protection) of Kintamani coffee. “I became a marketing manager,” he said.

He also had the opportunity to study at the Indonesian Coffee and Cocoa Research Center in Jember, East Java, to market Kintamani coffee around Indonesia.

That experience made it possible for Kintamani coffee to be known to many people throughout the world. Together with being chosen as one of the winners of technology-based young entrepreneurs, he has received capital assistance of Rp 10 million and is determined to be independent and no longer works in the foreign company. Then his brand is named

Bali Arabica

Initially, he built a business by becoming a reseller of farmers\' products. Then the results are collected to buy roasting machines, build workshops with one of the farmers to establish a home industry in Belantih village. Then, in order to attract buyers, he offers a guarantee that his coffee product is100 percent original.

Gradually, Bali Arabica began to be known and developed. Coffee shops, roasters, restaurants, hotels, and coffee lovers are the main customers of their coffee.

He made several achievements in various competitions. Sukarsana became increasingly convinced of his ability and strengthened himself to continue to consolidate with the farmers and farmer groups. He also empowered housewives. His efforts were getting wider from Kintamani to Buleleng.

Not only that, Sukarsana opened a tour trip to the coffee plantation. This tour invites foreign or domestic tourists to get to know the coffee plantation, knowing how to process coffee beans into a cup of delicious coffee. Of course, he continues to work with the coffee plantation owners, including developing coffee honey with Robusta coffee farmers in Buleleng.

The concept of the business being developed remains focus on social approach and continues to involve almost 250 hectares of plantation from five farmer groups. For him, profits must remain in favor of coffee farmers and all workers in the coffee process.

“Farmers nowadays must be advanced and literate,” he said. He also educated and accompanied the partner farmers continuously in processing the coffee, changing the mindset of the farmers about the importance of quality. Every harvest season, we together invite buyers, roasters, coffee shop owners to visit the coffee plantation directly,” Sukarsana said.

I Komang Sukarsana

Born: Songan, June 18, 1984 Job: Farmer

Wife: Made Srianing (34) Children:

- Putu Nitya Pradya Swari (7)

- Kadek Cantika Pradnya Swari (4) Education:

- SD Negeri 6 Songan (1994-1997)

- SMP Negeri 4 Kintamani (1997-2000) - SMU Negeri 1 Bangli (2000-2003)

- Undiksha University of Singaraja (2003-2007)

Experience and Award:

- Prominent Agro-Innovator Youth from Agriculture Minister (2017)

- Bali coffee representative during Indonesia Coffee Day in London, UK (2018)