First upload : 28 September 2017

Boyolali – Some stakeholders have been working to realise “sustainable Merapi Landscape”. Well-conserved forest that keeps having high economic values is the goal. To achieve this, 500 hectares of farm forest areas in the highest altitude of Mount Merapi have been planned to be grown with coffee.

The areas for the program on sustainable Merapi Landscape are located in 4 villages in the slopes of Merapi, namely Tlogolele, Suroteleng, Wonodoyo andNgargomulyo. The initial planting was done in Stabelan sub-village of Tlogolele Village of Selo sub-district, Boyolali, on Monday (5/6/2017). The sub-village is at the highest altitude on the slopes of Merapi at 1,200 meter above sea level, only 3 km away from the peak of Merapi.

The head of Tlogolele village, Widodo, explained that the local community has grown Arabica coffee plants on their own yards since the past 10 years. In addition to giving economic value, coffee trees also help prevent erosion, keep carbon reserves, and maintain soil water.

"Significant progress has been increasingly evident. The local community has received assistance from several stakeholders in cultivating coffee and now coffee will start to be grown in the farm forest areas. A total of 30 hectares of land in Tlogolele village has been allocated for coffee cultivation,” said Widodo.

A number of stakeholders have been directly involved in the farm forest program for the cultivation of coffee, including the Gunung Merapi National Park Office, Boyolali District Government, Business Watch Indonesia (BWI) and Solidaridad.

The Head of BWI, Aris Buntara, said that coffee agroforestry has been selected as a means of environmental conservation since it provides both economic and environmental benefits.
 

The local community has generated additional income from processing coffee beans without having to cut the trees that it helps to maintain carbon reserves and ground water in the landscape. The local community has been making use of the forest resources to extract the woods and grazing grasses.

"It has been a while since we have been facilitating the local community and we have observed the unique taste of local Merapi coffee variety from their farms. We envision a large coffee production from Merapi that will add colour to the world coffee industry,” Aris said.

Nico Roozen, the Executive Director of Solidaridad International who has been facilitating local community in Sustainable Merapi Landscape Project for some time also confirmed the same thing. It is the project goal to enhance the environment and improve economic welfare. Coffee has been selected since it complements the wood perennials on the slopes of Merapi and the beans give economic value while keeping the forest protected.

"Coffee will be planted using agroforestry system as part of the efforts in Merapi forest conservation.  It has been planned that 500 hectares of farm forest areas in Merapi will be planted with coffee. The forest is kept conserved but at the same time gives high economic value and gives opportunity to the local community to earn a living from its resources," said Roozen.

Source:

https://news.detik.com/berita-jawa-tengah/d-3521087/mendambakan-harum-aroma-kopi-dari-atap-merapi

Issued on 5 June 2017