When Coffee Farmers Leave the Trail of Coffee Middlemen in Bener Meriah, Aceh

Reporter: Asnil Bambani Amri, Dimas Andi | Editor: Syamsul Azhar

KOPI - JAKARTA. Mistary, Head of Gegerung Village, Wih Pesam District, Bener Meriah Regency, Aceh, had a sad look on his face when he told the condition of the coffee farmers in his village. Mistary, who is also a coffee farmer, said that the average farmer in his village sells coffee beans in the form of fresh fruit or cherries to middlemen or collectors.

Because they sell cherries, farmers sometimes don't know how much the selling price of coffee is when it's in the form of ready-roasted coffee beans or green beans. "Sometimes farmers only deposit fruit in the form of cherry ore and receive rupiah according to the price set by the middlemen," said Mistary when met by KONTAN at his coffee plantation in Gegerung Village, Thursday (4/5).