Long term damage from the typhoons will impact our Aceh partners.
Update 1/9: We received a recent update from Daniel Shewmaker of Sucafina, who we’ve worked with on the majority of our IndonesiaUSDA is (obviously) the United States Department of Agriculture. USDA also had coffee plant breeding programs in the past and one variety they distributed to Indonesia and was... ...more sourcing for several years now. They’ve managed to deliver more supplies to farmers in the rural AcehThe northernmost district in SumatraL Aceh District is north of North Sumatra and produces some very classic Sumatra coffees. The center of coffee in Aceh is Lake Tawar... ...more via charter planes, and the donations to their GoFundMe page have been a great contribution to their success.
From Daniel: “Things are improving slowly. Emergency bridges have been installed and landslides cleared on the road from Takengon to Medan via Bireun which is important progress, as goods can now flow by land in smaller trucks. Within Aceh however, a few regions remain inaccessible and continue to rely on helicopter drops or by foot / offroad motorbike travel. Heavy rains over the past week have caused additional landslides which shut off access until they can be cleared. The cost of food and fuel remains elevated but much lower than it was a few weeks ago.“
“We started our second crop survey in Aceh yesterday…to try and map farm damage from landslides. The September-January crop was down significantly and cherryEither a flavor in the coffee, or referring to the fruit of the coffee tree, which somewhat resembles a red cherry.: Either a flavor in the coffee, or... ...more prices were already at all-time highs before the flooding. We are hoping the February-May period is better.”
Update 12/5: Sucafina has set up this GoFundMe page where you can make donations to help fly supplies to Aceh coffee communities. This is who helped with distribution of our donation, and they’re doing amazing work coordinating direct action relief efforts like the charter flight we mention below.
SumatraIndonesians are available as a unique wet-hulled or dry-hulled (washed) coffees. Giling Basah is the name for the wet-hulling process in Bahasa language, and will have more body... ...more was hit with unusually heavy rains this past week, leaving many stranded without critical supplies, power or cell service, and severely damaging infrastructure in the provinces of Aceh, North Sumatra and West Sumatra. News from the coffee areas is slowly filtering out to us, and we are starting to get a clearer picture of the frightening circumstances some of our coffee partners face.
Daniel Shewmaker, the main intermediaries we work with in Indonesia, is currently in Sumatra working to bring aid to farmers and wet mills in Aceh. Without cell service, it’s been very difficult to communicate with anyone in the rural zones, and it took several days for them to establish any kind of connection. It wasn’t until someone at the wet millThe wet mill is a processing center where coffee cherry from the tree is brought for initial processing.: The wet mill goes by many names (Beneficio, Factory, Washing... ...more located a government vehicle with a Starlink satellite connection that they received their first report of how things looked like on the ground.
The message was clear; farmers are isolated and need supplies, and the situation was becoming more and more desperate. One of the warehouse walls at the wet millIn Kenya, a "Factory" is actually a coffee wet mill (called a washing station in other parts of Africa) where the fresh cherry is brought for wet-processing. It... ...more was washed away in the mudslide, and they’ve had to move the coffee being stored there to try and salvage it. The 25 people who are stuck there were running out of food, water, and fuel.
Asman Arianto from the Pantan Musara Cooperative (we sell as “Ribang Gayo”) is also totally isolated, the road to his farm destroyed by the mudslides and not passable. Another farmer we buy from, Aulia Kahfi is in Bebesen, not too far from the mill. He and his family are facingFacing can mean turning toward, standing up to, being brave. But in coffee roasting though, it means scorching a roast.: Facing refers to scorch marks found on the... ...more a similar crisis of no food or water. In fact, he managed to text Tom saying, “Our village is isolated. We need food” – a particularly difficult message to digest when you’re thousands of miles away and ability to help is limited.
The only way to get aid into these areas for now has been by air. Daniel managed to charter a small plane from one of the local airlines for $8,000, filling it with fuel and a generator, a Starlink kit, and as much food as they could safely carry. We contributed $2,000 for some of those supplies, and Daniel is currently looking to organizing more runs. Thankfully, the first delivery made it to the 25 people at the mill, and Aulia, but they will need more.
Life and safety are obviously the primary concern right now, but you have to consider the long term implications from damaged coffee crops. Even if they manage a harvest, getting trucks in to transport the coffee will be no small task. Wiping out income will surely have its own devastating effects to these communities.
Our hearts go out to the people of Sumatra, and others in Indonesia and Southeast Asia affected by the storms. We still know very little, but are hoping to see an increase in humanitarian aid very soon. We are looking other other opportunities to offer support, and will share any legitimate relief efforts taking donations here.
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Please keep us Sumatra coffee lovers posted to help.