In the fertile hills of Bener Meriah Regency, Aceh Province, Indonesia, a group of young Arabica coffee farmers decided to stop selling their coffee on other people's terms. In 2019, they built something of their own. Koperasi Produsen Petani Kopi Arabika, known as KOPKA, became their answer: a farmer-owned cooperative, built from the ground up, producing some of the finest Gayo Arabica in the region. In 2025, they took their next defining step and achieved Fairtrade certification. This is the story of their first year.

About the Cooperative

Picture the cool, mist-softened highlands of Bener Meriah Regency, where volcanic soil meets mountain air at elevations between 1,100 and 1,300 metres above sea level. Coffee trees cover the hillsides, tended by families who have grown Gayo Arabica for generations. In this landscape, KOPKA was formed with a clear purpose: to build the economic strength of its members through coffee, on their own terms.

What makes KOPKA stand out is who built it. The cooperative was established largely by young people, many stepping into management, traceability, and business roles at a time when cooperatives in the region were not always seen as viable paths forward. Today, KOPKA brings together 908 active members across six villages in Bener Meriah Regency: Merie Satu (221 members), Mutiara Baru (210 members), Jamur Ujung (73 members), Paya Baning (158 members), Tanjung Beringin (121 members), and Bintang Baru (125 members). Just over a quarter of the membership, 26.65 percent, are women.

The cooperative is guided by a clear vision: to build economic strength for its members through coffee. Its mission, equally direct, is to improve product quality, enhance services, and increase the welfare of farmer households. Members govern the cooperative collectively through a democratic General Assembly, with the board and management accountable to its decisions.

Like many coffee cooperatives in Aceh, KOPKA faces real headwinds. Climate change is already reshaping farming conditions across Bener Meriah. Shifting harvest seasons, declining yields in some cycles, and more frequent pest and disease outbreaks are putting pressure on farmers who rely on coffee as their primary livelihood. The cooperative entered Fairtrade without a permanent international buyer, selling primarily through local and domestic channels while actively working to establish direct export relationships. Capital remains limited, and building a fully export-ready supply chain takes time.

These are honest challenges. But the cooperative's first year with Fairtrade has been about beginning to answer them

Coffee, Quality and Markets

KOPKA's farmers cultivate 100 percent certified organic Arabica coffee across 951.05 hectares of land in Bener Meriah Regency. The varieties grown are Gayo 1 Tim Tim, Gayo 2 Bor Boun, and Gayo 3 Ateng Super, the same heritage Gayo varieties that have placed this region on specialty coffee maps around the world.

Farming at KOPKA is communal by nature. Members work in rotating groups, planting, fertilising, and harvesting together, using hand tools and traditional techniques passed down through generations. Ripe red cherries are hand-picked at peak ripeness and delivered directly to the cooperative's collectors in each village, who transport them to KOPKA's own processing facility.

At the facility, cherries are pulped to remove the outer skin, producing wet parchment coffee, which is then washed thoroughly with clean spring water. The washed parchment is sun-dried until it reaches the labu stage, then hulled to remove the husk and dried further until moisture content reaches approximately 12 percent. The coffee is then manually sorted for quality, pressed, and packed, ready for export via the port of Belawan in North Sumatra.

The result is a washed Arabica with a cup score of 85, verified independently. In the harvest year ending 2025, KOPKA produced 825 metric tonnes of certified organic coffee. Production is forecast to grow to more than 1,307 metric tonnes by the end of 2026, a reflection of the cooperative's expanding membership and increasing processing capacity.

KOPKA is currently Fairtrade and organic certified, holding both EU Organic Farming standard (Regulation EEC 834) and USDA National Organic Program (NOP) certifications. The cooperative exports from Belawan and currently sells to domestic and local buyers. Securing direct Fairtrade-certified export partnerships with buyers in Europe and the Americas is the next goal.

Fairtrade Premium Investments

KOPKA's Fairtrade certification is only in its first year, and the cooperative is at the start of a long journey with the Fairtrade Premium. In its first certified year, the cooperative received a total Fairtrade Premium of IDR 2,465,439,295, generated from coffee trading activities and managed democratically by its members. What KOPKA chose to do with those funds, and how those decisions were made, reflects its values.

Environmental investments

The cooperative's first environmental commitment through the Fairtrade Premium is the procurement of coffee seedlings to support farm rehabilitation across member villages. With aging trees and the growing pressure of climate-related crop losses, replanting is not a future priority but an immediate need. A total of IDR 23,462,000 has been disbursed to date for the seedling nursery program. Land preparation began in March 2026, and seed sowing started in April. The seedlings require approximately six months to reach suitable planting condition, and distribution to member farmers is expected to begin gradually between September and November 2026, depending on the readiness and quality of the seedlings at the nursery site. The planting of new coffee trees is also expected to improve tree cover and soil health across the hillsides where KOPKA's farms are located.

In 2025, the cooperative successfully conducted climate-resilient farming training sessions across its member villages. A total of 734 farmers participated in the program, which covered farming practices more adaptive to climate change, including unpredictable weather, drought, flooding, and pest outbreaks. Sessions included environmentally friendly cultivation techniques, efficient water management, and strategies to sustain agricultural productivity under changing conditions. The high level of participation reflects farmers' strong commitment to improving their knowledge and skills. The cooperative continues to work with expert collaborators to deepen this training in future cycles.

Social investments

For KOPKA's first Fairtrade Premium distribution, members voted to invest IDR 205,530,000 in basic necessities for farmer households across all six villages. Bags of rice were distributed to all 908 member households during a period outside the main harvest cycle, the lean season when cash is thin and household costs do not slow down. The distribution was organised and delivered by the cooperative itself, managed by members for members.

This was a deliberate and meaningful first choice. Rather than directing Premium funds solely toward infrastructure, KOPKA's members decided to address something immediate: food security during the hardest stretch of the year. The images from those distribution events, a banner reading Pembagian Premium Fairtrade KOPKA, farmers receiving bags of rice, the wide smiles, tell a simple and honest story about what collective decision-making can look like in practice.

Women's participation in cooperative governance is a meaningful part of how KOPKA operates. The cooperative's 242 female members hold the same voting rights as all other members. They engage in Annual Members' Meetings, member deliberations, and group forums, providing input on Premium fund allocation, evaluating cooperative programs, approving accountability reports, and participating in the election of management and supervisory boards. A woman holds the position of treasurer in the cooperative's management structure. Broader social programs, including community development and infrastructure, are priorities for future Premium cycles, and the board has committed to planning these through full membership consultation.

Economic investments

On the business side, KOPKA invested IDR 168,654,900 in coffee processing infrastructure, including the purchase of a Sutton grading machine, a manual tester, and a moisture content meter. These tools help ensure that coffee leaving the cooperative's facility meets consistent quality standards for export buyers. The Sutton machine in particular improves sorting precision at scale, a critical step in building the kind of quality reputation that opens doors to specialty markets. Seedling distribution through the nursery program will support farm rehabilitation and productivity improvement for members whose trees need replacing.

The cooperative is also in the process of developing its processing facility. A dedicated cupping and quality assessment space is part of the planned setup and is currently under development. Once complete, it will be central to KOPKA's ambition to meet the quality expectations of international specialty buyers and to verify the consistency of every lot.

Key Learnings

In 2025, KOPKA conducted Fairtrade standards socialization sessions across its member villages, gathering women and men farmers together to understand what certification means, what it requires, and what it opens up. For many members, this was their first direct engagement with the principles and practices of a major international certification program. The sessions covered Fairtrade values, cooperative governance, transparency, and the democratic process for Premium decisions.

KOPKA's management team, a mix of young board members, traceability staff, supervisors, and business team members, spent the year learning cooperative governance, traceability documentation, and quality management processes. The cooperative also began premium reporting on Fairtrade's FairInsight platform, a step toward greater transparency and accountability. Climate-resilient farming training was completed in 2025, with 734 farmers from across all six villages taking part, a strong signal of the membership's commitment to building more adaptive and sustainable farming practices.

Voices from the Cooperative

Future Outlook

KOPKA's first year with Fairtrade has been about laying foundations. A membership that understands the system. Processing infrastructure that meets export standards. Early Premium investments that responded directly to what farmers needed in the moment. And a first step toward the international markets that have always been the goal.

The road ahead holds both real opportunity and real challenge. Climate change is not a distant concern in Bener Meriah. Shifting weather, erratic harvests, and more aggressive pest activity are already affecting yields, and the cooperative knows that farmer training in climate-resilient practices cannot be deferred. Coffee tree replanting and ongoing seedling distribution are planned to address aging trees and maintain future production capacity across all six villages.

On the commercial side, KOPKA is actively pursuing direct Fairtrade-certified buyer relationships in Europe and the Americas. The Sutton grading machine and the processing facility under development are investments in the consistent quality that international specialty buyers require. With annual production forecast to exceed 1,300 metric tonnes by the end of 2026, the volumes are there for meaningful export partnerships.

Perhaps the most important aspect of KOPKA's story is who is driving it. Young farmers in Bener Meriah, many in their twenties and thirties, built and run this cooperative. They did it at a time when the next generation in many coffee regions is choosing to leave farming behind. Giving young people real ownership of a business that works fairly, connecting their labour to markets that value quality and transparency, and building something that benefits their families and their communities: that is what KOPKA is working toward.

It will take time, the right buyers, continued investment, and the collective commitment of more than 900 farmers across six villages. But the direction is clear. And the coffee, grown at 1,300 metres in the Gayo highlands and scored at 85 in the cup, speaks for itself.