The History of Shade-Grown Coffee Cultivation in Kemuning Forest

Kemuning Forest is the name used by local communities to refer to the forest area surrounding Kemuning Village, Bejen District, Temanggung. The village can also be described as an enclave, meaning a settlement located within a forest area managed by Perhutani, specifically under the KPH Kedu Utara unit, which still retains natural tree species. Many of the forest stands are old-growth trees with large diameters.

Kemuning Village is also known as one of the producers of robusta coffee in Temanggung Regency. For a long time, local communities have cultivated coffee on Perhutani land. According to Ahmad (2017), coffee cultivation in Kemuning Forest has existed since the 1970s, although it was initially carried out illegally.

Further research by Ahmad (2017) reveals that in 1985, an agreement was reached between the Mantri (a resort head within the Perhutani organizational structure) and farmers. However, this agreement was informal and not officially documented or notarized.

By 1990, a profit-sharing system had already been implemented, with coffee harvests divided between the community (70%) and Perhutani (30%) (Ahmad, 2017).

Several years later, Indonesia experienced political turmoil during the transition from the New Order to the Reform era in 1998. This period was accompanied by a monetary crisis that severely impacted the economy, increasing pressure on state land, particularly forests.

Large-scale forest exploitation followed, resulting in forest degradation and even social conflicts that led to further damage. These events occurred not only outside Java but also within the island, including in the Perhutani KPH Kedu Utara area. In response, Perhutani introduced the PHBM (Community-Based Forest Management) program to mitigate forest degradation caused by social conflict and land pressure.

The legal basis for this program was Perhutani Board of Directors Decree No. 1061/Kpts/Dir/2000, later replaced by Supervisory Board Decree No. 136/Kpts/Dir/2001. Based on this framework, in 2005 the community of Kemuning Village established the LMDH (Forest Village Community Institution) Argo Sejahtera, an organization representing forest farmers and positioned as an equal partner to Perhutani.

This equal institutional standing enabled the community to apply for permits and negotiate with Perhutani to gain legal access to forest areas. A year later, LMDH Argo Sejahtera successfully secured a PHBM cooperation agreement with Perhutani KPH Kedu Utara, officially notarized on April 4, 2006.

Shade-grown coffee in Kemuning Forest

This marked a turning point. Previously, only a few individuals dared to cultivate coffee illegally, but afterward, the community collectively began cultivating coffee under the forest canopy. The PHBM program also transformed land management from an owning economy into a sharing economy.

Access that was once private became more open and collaborative, allowing communities to utilize forest areas—not by cutting down trees for timber, but by granting them cultivation rights on Perhutani land.

With social, economic, and ecological objectives embedded in the PHBM program, the resulting cultivation system adopted was the shade-grown coffee model, commonly known as coffee farming under forest canopy cover.

Robusta coffee plants in Kemuning Forest

The coffee cultivated under the shade-grown system in Kemuning Forest is robusta. This choice is suitable because the area lies at an elevation below 1,000 meters above sea level. According to Kusniyanto, Head of LMDH Argo Sejahtera, several robusta varieties are grown by farmers, including Andungsari, SA, and BP458.

References:

Ahmad, Salahudin Halim. 2017. Conservation Initiatives in Community-Based Forest Management Systems in Kemuning Village, Bejen District, Temanggung Regency. Undergraduate Thesis. Faculty of Forestry, Universitas Gadjah Mada, Yogyakarta.

Field notes and activity records of JaWI in Kemuning Village (2016–2019).