T

he provincial farming agency will distribute 1.7 millions coffee seeds for free to farmers and communities across the island, a senior official said.

The initiative will cost the province’s budget Rp 3.74 billion (US$426,000). “The initiative is part of a campaign to re-cultivate coffee in areas that were previously major coffee plantations but now are being used to plant flowers and vegetables,” agency head I Made Sudiartha said.

He said that the campaign targeted 1,020 hectares of land in separate locations in the island.

“Each hectare of land will need around 1,600 seeds. The market price for coffee seed ranges from Rp 2,200 to Rp 2,500 per seed,” he said.

In 2010, a similar campaign saw 3.5 million coffee seeds planted on more than 2,000 hectares of land in Karangasem, Bangli, Buleleng, Tabanan and Badung. — JP