"Last year, the country`s coffee production was about 640,000 tons," AEKI Chairman Suyanto Husein said here on Friday.
He said that his organization had predicted early this year that Indonesia`s coffee production could reach 700,000 tons but it was later revised down to 600,000 tons.
"There is an indication of decreasing production in a number production centers in the regions due to bad weather," he said.
The AEKI chairman said that the drop in the coffee production was due in part to the increasing acreage of old plants besides unfavorable weather conditions.
For this reason, AEKI Deputy Chairman for Coffee Specialty and Industry Pranoto Soenarto said that his organization was planning to expand plantation acreage to increase production.
"We will cooperate with the relevant ministries to prepare the needed land to expand coffee plantation acreage for farmers so that in the coming 10 years production could reach 900,000 tons to 1.2 million tons per annum," he said.
"We want to increase the quality and quantity of production by increasing plantation acreage and using organic fertilizers," Pranoto said.
At present, he said, said the country`s coffee plantation areas cover 1.2 million hectares where over 90 percent tilled with smallholders. (*)
Editor: Aditia Maruli Radja
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