The Daurfusu Farmer Group is a cooperative of 37 farmers based in Timor-Leste, created with the goal of producing high quality washed coffee and bettering the living conditions of the community. The group is managed by Simiao Pedro, a highly respected producer in the community, who wears many hats for the group. Besides coordinating the cherry delivery to the Lutlala washing station, Simiao acts as the lead farmer to educate other producers on best practices. He also works as the lead quality officer to ensure high quality and consistency among the smallholder-produced parchment. Though coffee is the primary source of income for the 37 farmers and their households, many supplement their income by growing food for the community. Vegetables such as beans, corn, garlic, or greens, help boost their income as well as add valuable diversity to the soil in the farms.
For this village lot, comprising various small lots, each producer separately harvests and processes their coffee before they are combined at the Lutlala processing station. Each family begins by meticulously hand picking their coffee before pulping it with a traditional and locally made coffee pulper. The pulped coffee is then placed in bags or buckets to ferment for about 36 hours, before being spread across tarps to dry. During the drying process, coffees are raked frequently to ensure even drying. Once dry, families pack up and deliver their coffee to the Lutlala washing station where staff, overseen by Simiao, evaluate and combine the lots. It is only because the framers of the Daurfusu Group take immense care with harvesting and processing their coffees that the end product can be of such high quality.
The Timor coffee variety, known as Timor Hybrid, is the result of a spontaneous cross between Arabica coffee and Robusta Coffee. This new variety was discovered in 1927 on a coffee plantation in, you guessed it, the Ermera region of East Timor. Timor Hybrid was instantly loved by farmers as Robusta provides great resistance to plant diseases, and Arabica provides a great flavour profile.
Though coffee production and quality continue to grow in Timor-Leste, the growing conditions still present difficulties for the producers. A short rainy season and generally arid weather make it difficult for coffee to grow, while low nutrient content in the soil and difficulty accessing fertilizers challenge coffee trees’ ability to thrive. In the end, the average farmer only produces about 500g of quality green coffee per coffee tree.
But in the face of difficulty, Timor-Leste is prevailing. Production and quality are both rapidly increasing with the help from NGO’s and government created infrastructure. Fundamental changes in techniques for both production and processing has poised Timor-Leste to be a consistent producer of high quality and delicious coffees while also delivering more compensation to improve the lives of farmers and producers.
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