BRI Bina 274 Coffee Clusters Throughout Indonesia

President Director of BRI Sunarso. (Photo: Doc. Antara)

JAKARTA - PT Bank Rakyat Indonesia (Persero) Tbk or BRI has fostered at least 274 coffee clusters throughout Indonesia until March 2023, where one cluster of coffee businesses consists of dozens to hundreds of people.

This program is one form of the company's contribution in empowering coffee business actors from upstream to downstream to improve the quality and quantity of production, as well as improving the welfare of farmers.

In an official statement, quoted from Antara, Monday, May 8, BRI President Director Sunarso said that in the upstream sector, the coffee business will continue to grow and develop in the domestic and global markets. Then in the downstream sector, global coffee revenue is projected to continue to increase even though growth is slowing.

"So it is important for all of us to know exactly what the added value of coffee is in which phase and how much added value. Then where should we focus our energy to increase the added value of our coffee," said Sunarso.

Sunarso also highlighted Indonesia's position as the fourth largest coffee producing country in the world. However, Indonesia only contributed 6.6 percent of world coffee production, still below Brazil, Vietnam, and Colombia.

To make Indonesia's coffee position strong abroad, coffee from Indonesia needs to be sold in the form of glasses branded from the country. Thus, do not let coffee from all regions in Indonesia be referred to as a brand from abroad when entering the global market.

"This is a challenge as well as a problem that we must answer together. Therefore, we need to agree on Indonesia's vision of coffee in the future, namely selling coffee with maximum added value," he said.

Furthermore, he said, BRI's empowerment strategy cannot be separated from strengthening the ultra micro and micro ecosystems. More than 75 thousand BRI Mantri, Pegadaian Examination, and Account Officer of PT Permodalan Nasional Madani (PNM) throughout Indonesia provide business assistance to increase creativity in business financial management.

In addition, BRI consistently implements BRIlianpreneur which is a place of curation and debriefing to open market opportunities to foreign countries for BRI-inmates.

Coffee commodities are one of the seeds in the culinary field besides other leading fields, namely fashion, crafts, and furniture. BRI's financing and empowerment are a form of business value and social value for coffee farmers and business actors to be able to produce high-quality coffee and have optimal added value.