Sleman – Jogja Smallholders’ Tea Week 2022 was held in Depok, Sleman, on December 17-18. The event which was held at a restaurant in Babarsari was filled with an exhibition of smallholders’ tea products, business meetings and tea classes which were held on a limited basis.
A number of tea products on display included Purwakarta’s gelang tea and white tea, Pekalongan’s Parama Tea, Tasikmalaya’s Mimitea, Cianjur’s Oreatea and Banjarnegara’s Teh nDeso.
Director of the Indonesian Tea Marketing Association Veronika Ratri Kustanti said that the smallholders’ tea plantation area reaches 60 percent of total. However, behind these figures, the production level is smaller than that of state-owned/private-owned tea plantations. That is the background for holding the Jogja Smallholders’ Tea Week 2022.
“Nowadays, there are more (land) conversions; farmers as owners of plantation area are almost 60 percent where their productivity is lower compared to large plantations. Where this tea sector will go, if it is not supported, it can become extinct. That makes the joint idea of holding the Jogja Smallholders’ Tea Week 2022,” said Ratri in a press conference, Saturday (17/12/22).
Ratri said that this event was expected to be able to encourage added value and support farmers so they could maintain tea plantations. “We have concerns about smallholders’ tea products, to support them so they can maintain their plantations and we encourage added value,” said Ratri.
Meanwhile, Manager of Teh nDeso for Smallholders’ Tea Nanang Christianto said he was very impressed with the Smallholders’ Tea Week because he was able to display his products. Nanang said that this event could revive the Indonesian tea industry, especially smallholders’ tea.
“We are very interested and impressive with this activity because it is an event to revive the Indonesian tea industry, especially for smallholders’ tea. Because this context is indeed to display smallholders’ tea products, namely tea that is sourced directly from the smallholders’ tea plantation, processed, packaged and then marketed. “Nanang said.
Nanang also said that one of the efforts to increase the selling value of tea from smallholder tea farmers was to manage and market it themselves. This effort is a follow-up to the activities of farmers so far who only sell wet shoots of tea leaves in order to make more profit.
“All this time, farmers sell fresh tea shoots so they are cheap. It would be better for us to pack them and market them for added value, one of which is Teh nDeso,” said Nanang.
Advantages of Tea Made by Indonesian Smallholders
According to Apud, a tea smallholder from Purwakarta who sells smallholders tea under the name Alam Asli Teh Sindang Manon, his tea product has been certified organic in 2022. One of his superior products is white tea.
“This is a white tea product, the process is the result of direct drying from sunlight without using a heater, it takes four days of drying if it’s a sunny day. This white tea is the superior product, the most expensive in terms of serving, also for white tea, the temperature is 60 to 70, maybe if it’s too much the taste will change,” said Apud.
Besides that, there is also Parama Tea. This tea product comes from Pekalongan which is processed by Warniti.
Warniti said that in the processing of the tea, she really controls the tea-making process, starting from picking. With all these processes, Warniti dares to label their products premium tea.
“Parama Tea has premium and medium tea. We monitor the process start from the plantation, to keep it what the plantation looks like to keep it uncontaminated,” said Warniti.
