Indonesian SOEs to help Papua export coffee to big cities, boost income

State-owned enterprises in Indonesia have developed local coffee industries in Papua to enable the province to export coffee to big cities.

The SOEs involved are PT Bank Manditri, the largest bank in Indonesia, PT Perusahaan Perdagangan Indonesia (PPI), a trading company, and PT Pos Indonesia, the country’s postal service.

Bank Manditri will provide retaining, machinery and vehicles for 11 plantations in Papua as part of its corporate social responsibility programme.

Pos Indonesia will be a delivery service for the coffee exports and PPI will act as the buyer.

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It is hoped that the programme with allow Papua to export its coffee beans to bigger cities by making the product suitable for retail and managing an efficient supply chain in order to do so.

According to SOE Minister Rini Soemarno: “People in Papua have been planting coffee for about 40 years, but they have been using traditional methods. With the training, we hope Papuan coffee farmers will be able to improve their economic wellbeing.”

According to the Jakarta Post, Sustainable Coffee Platform of Indonesia trainer Faqih Assyikin explained that the coffee from Papua is a quality product with a sweet, less acidic taste due to coffee trees being planted in the wild near fruit plans.

Currently, the product whish is processed traditionally won’t be suitable for sale in shops, but this is something the SOEs can help to change. Assyikin explains: “The moisture levels of the coffee beans after drying should be 11-12%, it has to be tested by machines while the locals taste the coffee. The locals also roast the coffee until it is black, but it should be brown for maximum taste.”

With these changes, an extra source of income for Papua should be successful.