An American franchise coffee house is interested in arabica kayu aro coffee from Kerinci district, Jambi province, the Head of Processing and Marketing of Crops at Jambi’s Plantation Office, Arsyad Nur, said on Wednesday.
“This coffee won the national coffee contest,” he added.
Currently, the coffee house, which has franchises around the world, is exploring the possibility to cooperate with arabica coffee farmers in Kerinci.
In Jambi, Nur noted, arabica kerinci only grows in Kayu Aro, which is a plateau situated at a height of 1,400-1,700 meters above sea level.
“One coffee rod can produce eight kilograms of coffee beans at the most. Within two weeks, the local farmers can produce 20 tons of arabica kerinci coffee beans,” he informed.
According to him, the arabica kerinci plantations are spread over 1,500 hectares.
The local administration is working to register arabica kerinci with the Directorate General of Intellectual Property Rights at the Ministry of Law and Human Rights in order to obtain legal protection of Geographical Indications (GI).
“Arabica Kerinci has specific characteristics that deserve to get GI categorisation,” Nur pointed out.
Besides arabica kerinci, he added, the district has robusta merangin and liberika tungkal coffee. “Liberika Tungkal grows at an elevation of 0-100 meter above sea level,” he explained.