Strategy to increase the competitiveness of the slopes of Mount Muria coffee based on social enterprise

Abstract

Robusta Coffee cultivation on Mount Muria at an altitude of 700 masl, which in the last two years, production reached 1,500 tons per year, an increase of 30 percent from the total land area of 2,200 hectares (2019-2021) (seputarmuria.com, 2021)—coffee cultivators by the people whose management serves as life support. Coffee farmers experience marketing problems; they sell raw coffee beans to local intermediaries, and only a tiny portion is processed. Post-harvest processing to make coffee powder ready for consumption traditionally. The strategy to increase the competitiveness of coffee needs to do so through community empowerment based on social enterprise. Data collection methods were field surveys, structured interviews, FGDs, and literature studies. Data analysis described the coffee farming business and the preparation of development strategies using SWOT analysis. The results showed that Lereng Muria coffee farmers carried out vegetative grafting using the top working method: robusta shoots with superior robusta shoots to get new varieties without killing old plants so that production and yields were high. Most farmers grow coffee by utilizing the forest floor and interspersing it with other commodity crops, including pomelo, cloves, teak, and silk tree. After harvests, the coffee beans are dried directly under the sun, go to the mill, and sold to intermediaries. After doing a SWOT analysis, the average IFE value is 0.63, and the EFE value is 1.13. Recommended 12 development strategies to increase competitiveness, including improving the grafting breeding system, strengthening cooperation between farmers and other stakeholders, improving crop sales management, increasing farmers’ knowledge about climate change and pest control, and other strategies.