In Indonesia, a national social forestry program is reshaping coffee cultivation by granting farming communities legal access to manage state-owned forest land. The initiative, active in areas like the Batutegi forest landscape in southern Sumatra, requires participants to adopt sustainable agroforestry practices. The goal is to provide stable livelihoods for farmers who have historically cultivated coffee in these regions while simultaneously reducing illegal forest clearing and promoting conservation.
The program formalizes land use for communities that have long farmed within protected forest boundaries. While initial community forestry permits were issued in Batutegi between 2007 and 2010, implementation challenges remained. Since 2017, government agencies and conservation groups have intensified efforts, providing training and support to help farmers increase productivity on existing plots rather than expanding into new areas. This approach now involves thousands of farmers across dozens of organized groups in the region.
A key outcome of the program is a shift away from coffee monocultures toward diversified agroforestry systems. Farmers are receiving training to integrate other income-generating crops like candlenut, avocado, and areca palm alongside their coffee trees. More recently, livestock such as goats have been introduced, providing an additional source of revenue and manure for natural fertilizer. This multi-crop model is designed to enhance biodiversity, improve soil health, and create more resilient income streams for farming families, reducing their economic dependence on a single commodity.