Coffee Communities Invite Farmers Change Harvest Patterns

INDUSTRY.co.id - Bengkulu - Komunitas Kopi Bengkulu invites farmers to change the harvest pattern that only harvest the mature coffee beans or known by red picking.

"There are still many farmers here who harvest coffee by threshing the whole fruit in fact, this way even harm the farmers," said Chairman of Bengkulu Coffee Community Hery Supandi in Bengkulu, Sunday (15/07/2018)

According to him, there are some losses for farmers if the harvest is arbitrary by directly harvesting the whole fruit.

First, in terms of commodity quality.

"Because when harvest is mixed with the seeds that have not been cooked, then the quality and taste of coffee becomes low," he said.

He said coffee entrepreneurs such as restaurants, cafes, and exporters are reluctant to take commodities from harvest, because they have to account for the quality of the products they provide to their customers.

"The price is cheaper, for example, coffee can be sold at random of Rp20.000 per kilogram, while the red pick can be more than Rp40.000 per kilogram," said Hery.

In addition to the quality, the pick-up is also affects coffee fertility, so for the next harvest, the quantity will continue to decline.

"The fruit or the coffee bean is getting rarer and fewer. In contrast to the red picking, even a positive impact, the fruit will be denser," he said.

In addition to harvesting patterns, according to him, the local coffee community also invites farmers to start paying attention to postharvest handling, so the quality of this commodity can be maintained well.

"Starting from the separation of beans, drying, to roasting, we continue to educate this. In some areas both city and district in Bengkulu already available specialty coffee houses that provide a special place drying and coffee roasting machine," said Hery.

By continuing to maintain the quality, according to Hery, will be the most efficient way for Bengkulu coffee is calculated both at the national and international levels.

"Actually, our coffee has been famous to other countries, only to be taken into account of course many must be addressed," he said.