Fairtrade

"The value added from Fair Trade is not just about money, it is about protecting the ecosystem and our community. We are able to invest in infrastructure to improve our well-being. Thanks to Fair Trade, one of my children is now in medical school and the other is in midwifery school.. " Mohammed Salim, PPKGO member

ABOUT THE COOP
Date Established:	1997
Number of Members:	1,658
Annual Production:	115 containers

ABOUT THE COFFEE
Varieties:	Bergendal, Catimor, Caturra, Sidikalang, and Typica
Elevation:	1100-1500m
Processing:	pulped, fermented, semi-washed (Sumatran fashion), sun dried, machine and hand-sorted
Cup Characteristics:	low acidity, medium to firm body, earthy
Harvest Season:	Oct-Jun
Export Season:	Nov-Sep
Organic Production:	100%
Organic Certification Agency:	SKAL

The Gayo Organic Coffee Farmers Association (PPKGO) is an organic Fair Trade coffee cooperative located in the Gayo Highlands of the Aceh province of Sumatra, Indonesia. Coop members are small-scale coffee farmers dedicated to producing 100% shade-grown, organic coffee. In a region known for political conflict, the co-op has continued to produce, process, and export high quality Sumatran coffee. It has maintained relative peace and unity among an ethnically diverse membership comprised of Gayo, Javanese, Acehnese, Padang, and Batak peoples. Twenty percent of PPKGO’s members are women.

Cooperative farmers live in an environmentally sensitive region—the buffer zone to Gunung Leuser National Park, which contains critical watershed areas and sanctuaries for endangered species such as the Sumatran tiger. Fair Trade price incentives and technical support provided by the cooperative have encouraged sustainable agriculture and resource conservation.

Significant revenues earned from selling to the Fair Trade and organic markets allow PPKGO to contribute to a wide variety of programs, including:

Plant bio-diversity. Community nurseries provide improved and grafted coffee and
shade tree seedlings.

Lending instituion. Coop members now use a credit union that extends small loans to
members and their families.

Infrastructure development. Improvements to the water supply, local roads, mosques,
and schools.

Processing improvements. Construction of two cupping labs and 16 satellite wet mills
in producing communities.

Income diversification. Projects in which farmers grow additional crops such as vanilla,
potatoes, and bananas

Recent Highlights
In the past, the organization has provided shelter for individuals directly affected by violence in the region. More recently, PPKGO mobilized relief efforts assisting those people in Aceh most severely affected by the earthquake-tsunami that struck Southeast Asia in December 2004. In this context, the Fair Trade price supported the cooperative’s efforts to collect and distribute several tons of rice, vegetables, and crucial supplies to Banda Aceh in addition to extensive volunteer time and labor for relief work, build and repair 34 homes, and support orphans and widows in the community.