Building Resilient Value Chains After the Impact of the COVID-19 Disruption: Challenges for the Coffee Sector in Central America

Coffee is an important agricultural sector in Central American, directly employing over 1.2 million people in Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica. Although export revenues from coffee trade have an overall positive effect on the gross domestic product (GDP) of these countries, poverty still prevails. The COVID-19 pandemic has placed additional pressure on the sector which is vulnerable to fluctuations in the international coffee prices, low productivity levels, and climate change effects and damages caused by pest and diseases. This paper examines the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and analyzes if the sector is resilient to withstand unexpected external shocks such as the pandemic and the hurricanes which impacted the region in the last months of 2020. The capacity to absorb, adapt, and/or transform to these shocks was assessed from the perspective of small-scale coffee farmers, traders, exporters and the entire sector in two time periods—immediately after the start of the pandemic and after the coffee harvest. Although the actors in the coffee value chain absorbed these shocks and could withstand them, adaptation to the disruptions has been challenging for small-scale farmers. Despite the vulnerability to unexpected external shocks, results indicate that a long-term transformation of the sector to build resilience is likely to be slow.

The factors affecting Arabica coffee farmers behaviour in Aceh Tengah Regency

Arabica coffee is one of the leading export commodities that have high economic value. The study aims to describe the financial behaviour of arabica coffee farmers and to find out what factors influence the financial behaviour of arabica coffee farmers in Aceh Tengah Regency. The sample in this study was 147 samples taken by simple random sampling. This study uses descriptive statistics and ordinal logistic regression. The results of descriptive statistics show that the financial behaviour of arabica coffee farmers in Aceh Tengah Regency is good enough, with a percentage of 57%. This condition is not optimal in managing their finances because of the 9 statements used to measure financial behaviour, only 5 statements have been fulfilled. The results of the ordinal logistic regression have a significant effect at the 5% level (< 0.05), namely the variable financial knowledge in the low category (X1)1 0.0034, financial attitude in the fairly good category (X3)2 0.006, an elementary school education (X4)1, 0.012 junior high schools (X4)3 0.011 and high school (X4)4 0.002 on financial behaviour and income variable (X2) > 0.05, so it does not significantly affect the financial behaviour of arabica coffee farmers in Aceh Tengah Regency.

Household spending decisions analysis of coffee farmers in Aceh Tengah District

Farmer household income is certainly very closely related to expenditure. Coffee farmers in Aceh Tengah spend their income on consumptive and productive expenditures. This study aims to find out how the consumptive spending decisions and productive spending decisions of coffee farmers in Aceh Tengah District are described and to find out how the correlation between coffee farmers’ income and consumptive and productive spending decisions. The data used in this study are primary and secondary data. The analytical method used is descriptive statistics and Chi-Square analysis. The results showed that the consumptive expenditures of coffee farmers in Aceh Tengah District had a high category with a percentage of 42.2% or 62 farmers, while for productive expenditures of coffee farmers in Aceh Tengah District had a low category with a percentage of 45.6% or 67 farmers. The results of the Chi-Square analysis, namely from the results of the two analyzes, can be seen that the significance value of the correlation between income and consumptive and productive spending decisions is 0.000, which means that there is a correlation because of the Asymp value. Sig < 0.05. Moreover, the contingency coefficient (r) has a high (0.61-0.80) and moderate (0.41-0.60) correlation.

Impact analysis of coffee production in reducing poverty in Aceh Tengah

The plantation is a strategic sector in poverty alleviation. In the Aceh Tengah district, coffee is one of the leading plantation commodities that can increase the pace of the regional economy. Gayo coffee has a distinctive aroma and has a high price. Although generally, the people there are active in producing coffee, there are still poor people. It is necessary to analyse the impact of coffee production in reducing poverty in farming communities in Aceh Tengah district. This study uses a probit regression analysis method to see the characteristics of coffee farmers with significantly different non-coffee farmers. It then uses a Propensity Score Matching (PMS) analysis to see the impact of coffee production in reducing poverty farming communities in Aceh Tengah district. This study indicates that the characteristics significantly differ between coffee farmers and non-coffee farmers are age, education, access to food, eating little food, and assets having a motorbike. The per capita consumption of coffee farmers is not higher than that of non-coffee farmers, but the holdings of coffee farmers are more than those of non-coffee farmers.

Opportunities and Challenges in the Utilization of Warehouse Receipts for Coffee Farmers in Central Aceh District

This article aims to analyze and explain the opportunities and challenges for coffee farmers in obtaining financing from banks using Warehouse Receipts (RG) as collateral. Capital for coffee production costs is one of the obstacles coffee farmers face in Central Aceh. As one of the Warehouse Receipt System (WRS) commodities, coffee can be used as collateral in the form of Warehouse Receipts issued by the WRS warehouse. It is under the provisions of Law No. 9 of 2009 concerning WRS. This research is empirical juridical research. Data were obtained through interviews with farmers/farmer groups, warehouse managers, and Disperindagkop Central Aceh District. This research found that Central Aceh farmers/farmer groups have an excellent opportunity to get financing with Warehouse Receipts as collateral. It can be seen from the support of the local Government in accelerating the certification process for 3 WRS warehouses during the COVID-19 pandemic. Currently, in Central Aceh, 5 WRS warehouses can accommodate the harvests of farmers/farmer groups. In addition, the existence of farmer groups and cooperatives can also strengthen farmers' opportunities to meet the require-ments for obtaining Warehouse Receipts. However, currently, the implementation of the WRS in Central Aceh is still not running optimally. It can be seen from the use of WRS, which is still very minimal. Of the five available WRS warehouses, only two have issued Warehouse Receipts, namely 110 SRG warehouses owned by the Government and PT. 3. In addition, currently, WRS is only used by entrepreneurs/cooperateves/ex-porters, while farmers/farmer groups have not yet utilized it. Until now, farmers/farmer groups still use the mechanism of selling coffee directly to collectors, which harms them in certain circumstances. The farmers do not use this WRS to obtain financing from the bank or delay selling. Another obstacle is related to the implementation of the Qanun on Sharia Financial Institutions in Aceh.

Coffee By-Products as Sustainable Novel Foods: Report of the 2nd International Electronic Conference on Foods—“Future Foods and Food Technologies for a Sustainable World”

The coffee plant Coffea spp. offers much more than the well-known drink made from the roasted coffee bean. During its cultivation and production, a wide variety of by-products are accrued, most of which are currently unused, thermally recycled, or used as fertilizer or animal feed. Modern, ecologically oriented society attaches great importance to sustainability and waste reduction, so it makes sense to not dispose of the by-products of coffee production but to bring them into the value chain, most prominently as foods for human nutrition. There is certainly huge potential for all of these products, especially on markets not currently accessible due to restrictions, such as the novel food regulation in the European Union. The by-products could help mitigate the socioeconomic burden of coffee farmers caused by globally low coffee prices and increasing challenges due to climate change. The purpose of the conference session summarized in this article was to bring together international experts on coffee by-products and share the current scientific knowledge on all plant parts, including leaf, cherry, parchment and silverskin, covering aspects from food chemistry and technology, nutrition, but also food safety and toxicology. The topic raised a huge interest from the audience and this article also contains a Q&A section with more than 20 answered questions.

The Adoption of Bundled Sustainable Farm and Environmental Practices by Coffee Farmers in Southwest Ethiopia

Despite numerous efforts to introduce sustainable farm and environmental practices (SFEPs), such as pruning, soil erosion control, and water pollution abatement measures), their adoption by smallholder farmers is awfully low in Ethiopia. As a result, smallholder coffee farmers in the country remain in poverty traps even if there is room to enjoy coffee returns by doubling the yield by implementing sustainable practices. On the other hand, most previous coffee sustainability studies focus on the economic, livelihood, and poverty alleviation impact of private sustainability standard schemes. Despite the holistic advantages of the adoption of bundled SFEPs over individual adoption practices, it has been overlooked by earlier scholars in the country. In southwest Ethiopia, few farmers applied sustainable coffee farm practices (particularly pruning, stumping, the use of fertilizer, and mulching), and the yields gained by the farmers are quite low. Therefore, this study seeks to examine the factors affecting the adoption of bundled SFEPs and their intensity at the farm household level in southwest Ethiopia based on cross-sectional data obtained from 153 sampled coffee farm households for the 2019/2020 cropping season. The study results showed that the farmers’ adoption of different SFEPs depended on farm and management characteristics (total size of coffee holdings, multiple plots, remoteness of coffee farm, hired labor, and farming experience), socioeconomic variables (literacy, household size, and training), and Fairtrade coffee certification. Likewise, the intensity of SFEPs implementation is influenced by literacy and hired labor. Providing training and supplementing coffee farmers with farm equipment used for SFEPs, promoting small-scale mechanization options to address seasonal labor constraints, as well as strengthening Fairtrade organizations will facilitate the adoption of multiple SFEPs by coffee farmers in the country.

FINANCIAL FACTORS AFFECTING PRODUCTION EFFICIENCY OF SMALL SCALE COFFEE FARMS IN BURUNDI

Purpose: The study sought to evaluate financial factors affecting the production efficiency of small-scale coffee farms in Burundi. Methodology: The research design used during the study was descriptive. The research targeted a population of 300 small-scale coffee farmers. The study had a sample population of 121 smallholder coffee farmers. The study conducted the research for a 6-year period between 2015-2020. The data was collected using a secondary data collection sheet. Secondary data was obtained from Coffee federations' annual reports, cooperatives reports, and coffee farmers’ records. Analysis of the data was done using the Eviews student 11 version. The analyzed data was presented in form of tabulations, mean and standard deviation. Findings: The study findings showed that the correlation analysis showed that the selling prices per kilogram of coffee beans had a negative and significant correlation to the production efficiency by R = 0.98. Production efficiency had a negative and significant correlation to capital availability by R = 0.260. Lastly, production efficiency had a positive and significant correlation to production costs at R = 0.500. The findings of the research obtained that selling prices per kilogram of coffee beans had a not significant negative effect on production efficiency, while capital availability and production costs had a positive effect on the production efficiency. A unique contribution to theory, practice, and policy: The study recommended that government should review the policies relating to the selling prices per kilogram of coffee beans to improve small-scale coffee farmers’ incomes. Government should also facilitate access to credit to small-scale coffee farmers. The study incorporated the Cobweb theory of price fluctuation, the theory of credit rationing also called adverse selection theory, and the high payoff inputs model.

PEMBERDAYAAN PETANI KOPI OLEH DINAS PERTANIAN DI DESA RAMUNG JAYA KECAMATAN PERMATA KABUPATEN BENER MERIAH PROVINSI ACEH

Empowerment of farmers is an activity that involves the participation and leadership of farmer groups. This empowerment is shown to improve the quality and creativity of farmers to create reliable and independent farmers who can have innovations for their own farmers. This research intend to knowing and analyzing how community empowerment of coffe farmers at Ramung Jaya Village by the department of agricultural Bener Meriah Regency as well as to determine the inhibiting factors and the efforts made in empowering coffee farmers by the Bener Meriah Regency Agriculture Office in Ramung Jaya Village.The method used in this research is descriptive qualitative research method. Data collection techniques used were observation, interviews, and documentation. In addition, to analyze data using several steps, namely data reduction, data presentation, and drawing conclusions and verification Based on the results of the study, it shows that the implementation of empowerment carried out by the Agriculture Office of Bener Meriah Regency for coffee farmers in Ramung Jaya Village has been going well, but there are still several obstacles for both the government and coffee farmers in Ramung Jaya Village. The author also provides suggestions or recommendations to the government in order to increase creativity and quality through counseling to improve the quality of farmers and pay more attention to the provision of facilities and infrastructure and can provide business capital assistance. Keywords: Empowerment, Economic Development, Coffee Farmers.