LAMPUNG SUFFERS 50 PERCENT FALL IN COFFEE PRODUCTION

Photo document of coffee beans. (ANTARA/Wahdi Septiawan)

Bandarlampung, 21 Ramadan 1435/19 July 2014 (MINA) – Lampungs coffee production fell 50 percent this year due to extreme weather.

This year average production only reached 700 kilogram to one million tons per hectare down from as high as two million tons last year, the Lampung branch of the Indonesian Association of Coffee Exporters (AEKI) said.

“The farmers are the hardest hit,” Chairman of the Lampung branch of the AEKI Muchtar Lutfie, Antaranews.com quoted by Mi’raj News Agency (MINA) as reporting Thursday.

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Muchtar said the crop was damaged and the fruits decayed because of too much rain.

Currently, it is harvest time in all production centers in Lampung such as in the regencies of Lampung Barat, Tanggamus, and Waykanan, but production reached only 50 percent of normal production in harvest time, he said.

He said exports of coffee beans from Lampung have declined in the past two months as farmers stocks are shrinking.

In addition, some exporters chose to keep their stock hoping that the price would increase, he said.

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He said exporters and farmers are expected to release their stocks ahead of the Islamic holy day Idul Fitri.

He said he hoped the farmers would continue to tend their coffee crop using proper fertilizer to increase production in the future.

Coffee exported from Lampung include coffee from Jambi, Bengkulu and South Sumatra.

He said the availability of fertilizer is often a problem for farmers in Lampung.

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“Currently the prices of fertilizers are too expensive,” he said, adding the farmers need subsidized fertilizers.

(T/Syt/E01)

Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)

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