The Empowerment of BRILiaN Village, Sipping Robusta Coffee Sanggabuana While Enjoying the Beauty of Mountain Tourism

Kapanlagi.com - Karawang City is one of the largest rice farming centers in Indonesia. Its geographical location in the north of Java Island, surrounded by vast rice fields, is the identity of this city.

However, there is little information showing that this city also has coffee farming with its own unique products. The village of Brilian Mekarbuana itself is located in a village at the top of the Sanggabuana Mountains, Tegalwaru District, Karawang.

It is located about 42 kilometers from the center of Karawang City, with a travel time of about 1 hour and 42 minutes on winding and hilly roads. This geographical condition makes it impossible for the villagers in Mekarbuana to cultivate rice.

Has Great Potential in Developing Other Livelihoods

However, this condition also has great potential in developing other livelihoods. For example, there are dozens to tens of tourist destinations in this village, ranging from culinary, natural tourism, to camping areas. It is no wonder that this village is better known as an Agro-Ecotourism village.

The Head of Mekarbuana Village, Jaji Maryono, explained that since 2021, as a BRILiaN Village, this village relies on local specialty commodities, ranging from durian, mangosteen, avocado, stink beans, to jengkol. However, there is one product that immediately brought this village to achieve the Best BRILiaN Village 2021 award in Jakarta, which is processed coffee.

"In 2021, we participated in the BRILiaN Village program, through coffee products and other activities that we carry out in the village through Bumdes (Village-Owned Enterprises), Alhamdulillah, our village was able to become the 3rd place winner in Jakarta 1 (Regional Office) and entered the top 15 nationally," said Jaji.

The Origin of Robusta Coffee Sanggabuana

Jaji said that initially, the product known as "Robusta Coffee Sanggabuana" was not well explored. Meanwhile, the coffee harvest capacity can reach 100 tons per year with an area of ​​452 hectares in one harvest.

The local community already has their own brand that utilizes the harvest called “KOSA” or Kopi Sanggabuana.But thanks to being registered as a BRILiaN Village, various forms of empowerment are obtained by all actors, from farmers at the upstream level to distributors at the downstream level.

Empowerment and assistance in the form of financing and capital, procurement of supporting machines, education and training are all obtained.

“BRI has helped us a lot in terms of capital through KUR, so our community is greatly helped.Another example, previously the coffee production did not have a coffee mixing machine to mix coffee and sugar, now BRI is helping us.So BRI has a significant role in our village,” he continued.

BRI Empowerment Also Develops Human Resources in the Village

On a different occasion, the Head of Buanamekar Village-Owned Enterprises, Dedi Priyatna, described the BRI empowerment that targets the development of human resources in the village.The training provided has proven successful in creating a more independent and competitive community in the business process.

“To be honest, in terms of human resources, Mekarbuana Village still needs improvement, so to develop this village, we need to work extra hard.We conducted several trainings, one of which is for coffee, starting from seedlings, cultivation, harvest, post-harvest, to processing the results,” said Dedi.

Determined to Attract Local and International Tourists

Both Jaji and Dedi are determined to make coffee products in Mekarbuana Village the main attraction that not only attracts buyers but also local and international tourists.However, this village is surrounded by various tourist destinations, ranging from natural, religious to artificial tourism.

Of course, the most distinctive among them are Cigentis Waterfall, Curug Bandung, Curug Peteuy, and several other small waterfalls. Then there is Raja Camp, climbing Mount Sanggabuana, Tourist Village, Empang Sari, Jeci Hills, to Muara Tiga River and Haji Enim.

Regarding this matter, the Director of Micro Business at BRI, Supari, said that empowerment in BRILiaN Village is a form of implementation of Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) in the social aspect. The aim of empowerment is to stimulate resilience and economic self-reliance in villages in the new normal era.

"This program is a village incubation program that aims to produce role models in village development through the implementation of excellent village leadership practices and collaboration spirit to optimize village potential based on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)," he concluded.

(kly/tmi)