Letefoho, November 26, 2024 (Média Democracia) – Every year, coffee farmers always shout for the price of coffee to increase because there is no fixed price. This year, they can finally be happy because 1 kg is sold for 0.50 cents.
Catrai-Craik Village Chief Carlos Soares said the price of coffee in his village is an obstacle for the community. Every year coffee farmers always shout for coffee prices to increase because coffee prices are uncertain, buyers give prices based on coffee production and make coffee prices go down.
“The problem is that every year the price of coffee is not fixed, every year the price always goes up and down, companies or buyers look at the results of coffee production, they see that this year there is a lot of coffee fruit so they lower the price, this year the community is happy because the price starts at 0.50 cents, because coffee production is lacking, in the last few years the price has been 0.25 cents or 0.35 cents,” said the Village Head, last Thursday.
The impact of the decline in coffee prices also depends on climate change which has an impact on coffee production, thus killing the price of coffee in the community.
“Every year, people are always sad about the price of coffee because there is no price benchmark that gives coffee farmers the opportunity to know the exact price every year, coffee production is very minimal due to the impact of the long summer, if there are strong winds and rain, the coffee cherries fall so that it has an impact on the lack of coffee production.” Said the Village Head
In addition, the decline in coffee prices is also influenced by road conditions which make it difficult for people to bring coffee to the market because the road from the village to the market is very bad.
“Because of the impact of damaged roads, people cannot bring their agricultural products to the market to earn money to pay for their children’s school fees, there are many obstacles related to family needs and also far from the villa, so the obstacle is the road, the road has started to get better but has not reached the hamlet.” He said
He informed that every year the local government always holds a meeting at the city level to discuss coffee prices, but the Ministry of Trade and Industry stated that coffee prices would enter the free market.
“As a community leader, every year we always hold a meeting at the municipal level, MCI when contacting us, all Ermera residents always question the price of coffee. However, he answered that our law still adheres to a free market system, so the price of coffee does not yet have a definition of the actual price of coffee,” he said, last Thursday.
He said the local government is very concerned about coffee prices because most of the Ermera community depends on coffee for their livelihood.
“Therefore, we are concerned about the price of coffee because most of the people of Ermera depend on coffee for their livelihood, but with the rise and fall of coffee prices, the price of coffee has not stabilized because the people, especially coffee owners, we always plant coffee but we are like slaves because every year we plant, revive the grass, take care of the coffee but we remain slaves to the company and buyers.” He said.
He informed that in this village there are three companies that enter the area to buy coffee, such as NCBA, Timor Corp, Timor Global and this year Atsabe Coffee also buys coffee in Catrai-Craic.
On that occasion, buyer Marcelo de Deus as an employee at the National Cooperative Business Association (NCBA) said that the price of coffee given to farmers refers to the international market price, the company cannot just give coffee prices because there are no regulations governing coffee prices.
“Before we buy coffee, we look at the price of coffee in the international market, we do not give the price according to our wishes, but based on the market price, we cannot determine the price because we do not have the law to determine the price of coffee, we are based on the international market for example, from there we are sold at a price of 0.50 cents, then we also sell at that price, we cannot sell at a higher price.” Said Marcelo de Deus
Regarding the price of coffee, other companies buy at a high price because they use their own money to increase the price of coffee to 0.50 for every 1kg.
“The price is the same as other companies’ pockets, for example we give them 0.50 cents, they add 0.52 or 0.55 cents, they are one or two cents higher than us, we give 0.50 cents because we have coffee seeds, we have nurseries to share with them, sand, tree seeds for agriculture, we also have clinics to provide free treatment.” He said
In addition, this media tour program was held because AJTL collaborated with Oxfam in Timor-Leste which received funding from Oxfam Hong Kong.
Reported by : Estefania
Picture by : Estefania