Trade ministry: Papuan coffee has huge export potential
`The local industry includes coffee. I think one of the specific targets of this working visit is related to coffee. The Trade Ministry team identified (coffee) as having great potential,` Thomas said in Jayapura, Papua province, on SundayThomas said that the advantage of Papuan coffee is its superior taste because the Arabica type of coffee planted on the highlands has a sweeter aroma compared to other Arabica coffee types, and not many areas in Indonesia have that advantage.`I also learned a lot from business actors that the taller the Arabica coffee is planted, the sweeter its aroma. It seems that there are not many areas in Indonesia that are optimal like that, only Papua has the best potential and it just needs to improve farmer guidance and processing,` Thomas said.Thomas explained that at the moment, particularly in Dogiyai district, Papua province, guidance and investment in infrastructure, machinery, and packaging equipment are still needed.`I was told by one of the trainers in the Dogiyai coffee center that the machinery used was donated by Japan in 1975, so a little investment may be needed. Indeed, it has to be end-to-end, and perhaps the market can play a role,` Thomas said.According to Thomas, an integrated scheme can be implemented later, such as the provision of a collection, drying, and processing location near the traditional market.The coffee plantations in the Dogiyai district are plantations left behind by Dutch missionaries in the 1890s. In that era, most of the Dogiyai community were coffee farmers. As time passed, the community started to plant less coffee and switched to working as construction laborers to earn quick money.Meanwhile, The Head of the Strategic Issues Management Center of the Trade Ministry, Ni Made Ayu Marthini, said that the Dogiyai district also had five coffee SMEs. One of them was supervised by a church pastor. Apart from the plantation left by the Dutch, there was also a one-hectare coffee plantation in the Dogiyai district belonging to the Catholic Schooling Education Foundation (YPPK) junior high school.`This school includes coffee education in its teaching curriculum, so the students are taught how to harvest and process coffee at school,` Made said.Made hopes that Papuan coffee can penetrate the export market in the next three years and that it can be served at the 2020 National Sports Week (PON) in Papua.
Editor: B Kunto Wibisono
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