JAKARTA, July 12 (Xinhua) -- Indonesian President Joko Widodo on Friday emphasized the need to boost coffee productivity in the country amid declining global production and rising prices.
During his visit to coffee plantations in Lampung, Sumatra, he noted that current productivity is between 1 to 2 tons per hectare, but it can be increased to 8 to 9 tons per hectare.
"Our joint task is to significantly raise productivity. If productivity increases, the welfare of coffee farmers will improve," he said, as broadcast on his official social media account.
To support this goal, the government has increased fertilizer allocation to 9.5 million tons this year, up from 4.5 million tons last year.
Widodo also stressed the importance of downstream processing to add value to agricultural commodities.
Agriculture Minister Andi Amran Sulaiman said that Indonesia is the fourth-largest coffee producer globally, with 1.27 million hectares cultivated in 2023, producing 756,097 tons of coffee.
In 2022, Indonesia exported 437,560 tons of coffee worth 1.15 billion U.S. dollars, according to the minister. ■