Agriculture minister sets target for Indonesia to become world's largest coffee producer

The Minister of Agriculture sets the target

Indonesia will become the world's largest coffee producer

Agriculture Minister Amran (Amran Sulaiman) set a target for domestic coffee bean production capacity to increase to 1 tonne per hectare, raising Indonesia to the world's largest coffee producer after Brazil and Vietnam.

Amran said on the sidelines of the first World Coffee producers Forum (World Coffee Producers Forum) in Medellin, Colombia: "as Indonesian coffee products are becoming more and more famous in Europe and the United States, especially boutique coffee has become a world trend, the future of the domestic coffee industry is very clear."

According to a press release received by this newspaper in Jakarta yesterday, at the opening ceremony of the World Coffee producers' Forum held from the 10th to 11th of this month, Agriculture Minister Amran, accompanied by Indonesian Ambassador to Colombia Priyo Iswanto, held talks with Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos, former US President Bill Clinton and Vietnam's Deputy Minister of Agriculture.

Agriculture Secretary Amran said former US President Bill Clinton paid special attention to Indonesia's coffee industry. Further, Amran discussed with Vietnam's vice minister of agriculture how to develop the coffee industry.

Amran pointed out that Indonesia's coffee plantation covers a total area of 1.2 million hectares and has some boutique coffee, such as Gayo coffee, Mandailing coffee, Lampung coffee, Bajawa coffee and so on.

At present, Indonesia has 14 kinds of geographical indication coffee, which has a unique taste and has the ability to compete in the international market.

In order to improve domestic coffee production capacity, the government has taken a number of steps, such as the provision of high-quality seeds, timely fertilization, watering management, and old tree renewal programs.

Further, the Government will expand the acreage of economically valuable Arabica coffee to balance production of Robusta coffee and Arabica coffee (50:50).

"in the future, the development of the coffee industry will pay more attention to local knowledge, so that high-quality boutique coffee will be produced everywhere," he said.

Amran further said that the Ministry of Agriculture will send experts to Vietnam in the near future to study the Vietnamese government's strategy for developing the coffee industry.

The World Coffee producers Forum Conference is a joint initiative of the Government of Colombia and the Coffee producers Association to address the current challenges of the coffee industry, as about 25 million households around the world make a living by producing coffee.

Many world leaders also discussed how to vigorously develop the coffee industry at the World Coffee producers Forum with the theme of "One Coffee Chain, One Coffee Family". At the core of the Forum's agenda will be the challenges they face in terms of productive capacity, the threat of climate change and a sustainable supply chain from producers to consumers.