KUPS Rakutak Sauyunan, Ibun Village, District. Ibu, Kab. Bandung currently manages an area of 20-30 hectares located on the expanse of Mount Rakutak, not far from Mount Kamojang. This area is directly adjacent to the Kamojang Geothermal Power Plant.
Based on group agreement, the management area is divided into two main zones, namely protection and utilization zones. In protected zones, namely areas that have springs and a slope of more than 60 degrees, farmers are committed to maintaining the beauty of the protected zone and not making it the main area for growing commodities. Meanwhile, in the utilization zone, various commodities may be planted. Coffee is a favorite commodity in the utilization zone. The implementation of zone management commitments is carried out by group member farmers on their respective fields. No less than 25 of the total group members are young farmers.
The expanses of commodity crops that thrive in this area were previously difficult to find. Years ago, this area was full of them Kaso or weeds. Root Kaso which wind deep underground, if not cleaned, can exacerbate forest fires that used to occur regularly when the long dry season arrived. It costs IDR 40 million-50 million to clear 1 hectare of land Kaso until the land is ready for planting. However, the farmers' hard work is starting to bear fruit. Since being managed by the community since 2017, the restoration of critical forest areas has slowly shown positive results. Since 2022, farmers will be able to harvest coffee, not to mention harvesting other commodities.
The encouraging coffee harvest did not immediately make the KUPS Rakutak Sauyunan Group complacent. The enthusiasm to continue developing potential became the beginning of KUPS Rakutak Sauyunan's desire to build a place to process the coffee beans from their harvest. The response was positive, the construction of this coffee production house was realized with Direct Funding from Nusantara Fund.
KUPS Rakutak Sauyunan in the coffee production house construction program is comprehensively assisted by the Indonesian Social Forestry Management Association (AP2SI). Group meetings were held in the early stages to ensure agreement and commitment from group members in implementing the construction of the coffee production house. The meeting also discussed the involvement of members who have expertise and experience in carpentry. An agreement on the location of the coffee production house construction was also reached in the meeting, namely on land of approximately 200m2 managed by Mr. Amir (Head of KUPS Rakutak).
KUPS Rakutak Sauyunan Coffee Production House consists of three rooms and is equipped with one toilet. The first room is where the coffee beans are sorted, soaked, and ground into coffee beans. The second room is where the beans are dried in the inner room (Green House) and drying outside using a drying rack. The third room is a dry grain storage warehouse. The electricity supply for this coffee production house relies on a solar power plant. With a total building area of 44 m2, the production capacity per month is around 600kg of coffee grain. Fresh coffee cherries that are processed into coffee grains are sourced from 30 cultivating farmers who are members of the Rakutak Sauyunan Social Forestry Business Group (KUPS). The coffee house is about 1-2 km from their garden.
In the midst of the busy implementation of production house construction, capacity building activities also did not escape the attention of AP2SI as the companion. Coffee processing training activities with coffee processing resource persons from Palintang, Bandung, were carried out to ensure the readiness of farmers as the main subjects in the operational activities of coffee production houses. The process of building a coffee processing house which was carried out jointly also encouraged the closeness and activeness of the farmer group members to hold regular follow-up meetings as a joint learning space to continue to improve the quality of the Rakutak KUPS Sauyunan Coffee Production House.
KUPS Rakutak Sauyunan Coffee Production House built with Nusantara Fund Direct Funding has provided direct benefits, namely increased capacity and economic added value from coffee harvest products that were previously only worth coffee cherries to roasted green beans with a much more profitable selling value. This added value can improve farmers' welfare.
The Nusantara Fund's Direct Funding Injection for KUPS Rakutak Sauyunan is expected to facilitate their efforts and initiatives in the management of protected zones and utilization zones. We are all happy if the local wisdom of the Sundanese word 'leuweung hejo, people ngejo – the green forest of a prosperous society will be fully realized in the future.
ABOUT THE PROGRAM
Our program will include: | Construction of the KUPS Rakutak Sauyunan Coffee Processing House in Kamojang Village - West Java |
Activity: | Construction of a coffee production house, Coffee Processing Training |
Location: | Ibun Village, District. Ibu, Kab. Bandung West Java |
Implementation: | 01 to 31 December 2022 |
Companion: | Indonesian Social Forestry Management Association (AP2SI) |
Indigenous Peoples & Local Communities: | KUPS Rakutak Sauyunan Hill |
keyword: | Farmers; Agroforestry; Young Farmer |
Direct Funding: | IDR 50.000.000,- |
Nusantara Fund Long Term Targets: | Development of fair and sustainable production, distribution and consumption models in accordance with IPLC principles. |