By Michael Taylor
KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 31 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – Coffee farmers in matrilineal villages in a mountainous region of Indonesia are getting assistance from a geothermal energy company, which said it is helping them to grow, roast and find global buyers for their beans.
Backed by the Asian Development Bank (ADB), PT Supreme Energy Rantau Dedap has been supporting coffee growers in South Sumatra province while building a nearby geothermal power plant.
This month, the company began linking them with buyers including PT Fortunium, Rumah Kopi Ranin and Indokom, which supply both the domestic and overseas markets, said company and ADB officials.
“We are now reaching out to a global market,” said Viswanathan Ramasubramanian of ADB on Wednesday.
“If there is an improvement in coffee quality, it has the potential to attract big sized buyers, which can further improve livelihoods,” he said by phone from the Philippines capital Manila, where ADB is based.
The geothermal project on Sumatra, a large and mountainous island west of the capital Jakarta, began in 2011 and is being built with $227 million of the funding provided by the ADB.
Coffee-growing communities in the area have a matrilineal culture, which means that women play a key role in society and property inheritance is passed down to the eldest daughter.
