Diversification among coffee smallholders in the highlands of South Sumatra, Indonesia

Abstract

Over the past decade international organizations and developing countries have been trying to promote agricultural diversification among smallholders under the assumption that smallholders are too dependent upon a narrow range of crops. The International Coffee Organization and the Government of Indonesia have promoted agricultural diversification among coffee farmers to curb production and, thereby, increase prices. In South Sumatra, Indonesia, coffee smallholders diversify on their own initiative and depend upon numerous resource systems. They diversify out of coffee and even agriculture because other investments yield attractive returns and because further diversification within agriculture is often limited by agronomic and financial constraints.