The total area of productive arabica coffee plants in one of the subsidiaries of the Nusantara Plantation Holding has an area of 3,310 hectares, and is predicted to produce as much as 1,300 tons of green bean coffee in this year’s harvest.
During the visit, Pahala also ensured that the cultivation of Ijen Coffee carried out by PTPN XII is in accordance with Good Agricultural Practices standards. He also emphasized that post-harvest processing needs to maintain Good Manufacturing Practices standards in order to compete globally.
“Socioforest is one of the strategic efforts of the Ministry of SOEs in terms of developing productive areas in the food sector, and building agroforestry ecosystems,” said Pahala.
Support for the Ijen Arabica coffee harvest was also conveyed by the Governor of East Java, Khofifah Indar Parawansa. She said that the East Java Provincial Government continues to encourage the intensification of the plantation sector from upstream to downstream. Starting from planting, picking, processing, packaging, and selling. “East Java is rich in the potential of its plantation sector. We have coffee, chocolate, rubber and various kinds. Especially for coffee, our coffee production is quite large and of high quality. We need to maximize this potential,” he said.
The name Ijen Coffee itself has become a legend in the community, especially in the East Java region. Ijen coffee has been cultivated at an altitude of 1,000 to 1,500 meters above sea level (masl) since the 18th century. This type of coffee has a low acidity level and has a slight nutty and chocolate flavor. Not surprisingly, Ijen Coffee is a favorite of some coffee lovers in Indonesia, even the world with the Java Coffee brand.
Meanwhile, President Director of PTPN III (Persero) Holding Plantation Mohammad Abdul Ghani, said that Ijen Coffee has been exported by PTPN XII to a number of countries such as the United States, countries in Western Europe, Scandinavia, and the Middle East. “Of course, PTPN Group not only strives to maintain the quality of Ijen Coffee products with international standards, but also pays attention to the social welfare of the surrounding community,” he said.
During the arabica coffee harvest, Abdul Ghani continued, PTPN XII employs a total of 3,000 people from the surrounding community. “This means that there are at least more than 10,000 family members who depend on the coffee plantations managed by PTPN XII,” Abdul Ghani said.