Garut – Smallholders Tea Factory “Iroet” is the first tea factory in Indonesia owned by tea farmers; tea factory is usually owned by corporations. The factory is located in Cisaat, Sukatani Village, Cilawu District, Garut, West Java. “Today we see a historic event, the first tea cooperative in Indonesia which is established by tea farmers themselves, who are members of the Putera Mekar Multipurpose Cooperative (KSU), said Deputy Minister of Trade (Wamendag) Bayu Krisnamurthi when inaugurating the tea factory, Thursday (17 /04/2014).
The Putera Mekar Multipurpose Cooperative (KSU) is a cooperative consisting of 454 tea farmers in Garut with a total land area of 406.51 hectares. This factory has a production capacity of 8.5 tons of tea shoots per day from tea farmers so that it can produce 50 tons of dry tea per month.
Besides producing their own product, KSU Putera Mekar also trades 50 tonnes of dry tea per month. In total, the KSU Putera Mekar factory manages 100 tons of dry tea per month or 1.2 million tons of dry tea per year with a value of US$ 1.62 million. “This is smallholders tea, which means that tea is obtained from small farm blocks that are united under a cooperative, managed cooperatively and produce the best tea products,” he added.
All of the fund for constructing the factory were funded by bank loan, not by government grant. “This factory was built using bank loan and not the regional budget. The Putera Mekar Cooperative is amazing, even though it has experienced many challenges. This is our inspiration for the future,” he said.
Meanwhile, the chairman of the Putera Mekar Cooperative, Asep Suprihatin, revealed that the total funds spent to build this factory by the farmers of the Putera Mekar Cooperative reached IDR 3.5 billion. The funds were obtained from a loan from one of the national banks in Garut City. “IDR 3.5 billion is used. Construction began at the end of 2013. The fund was loaned from a bank, Bank BTPN. The factory area is 960 square meters and has 3 tea drying machines,” he explained.
Today the Deputy Minister of Trade Bayu Krisnamurthi inaugurated the Smallholders Tea Factory “Iroet”. Bayu was accompanied by the Director General of National Export Development (PEN) of the Ministry of Trade Nus Nuzulia Ishak, Garut Regent Rudi Gunawan, PT Sariwangi AEA, Business Watch Indonesia and ASPATARI (Sustainable Agro-commodity Producers Association).
Source: https://finance.detik.com/industri/d-2557970/pabrik-teh-rakyat-pertama-di-indonesia-rp-35-miliar-dibangun-di-garut
