How Coffee and Volcanoes Brewed Hope in North Sumatra
✍️ By Suryavanshi, IAS
(Field reflections on farming, resilience, and agro-innovation)
If you drive two hours out of Medan, North Sumatra, into the folds of Dolat Rayat, the scenery changes as fast as the clouds. You pass fruit-laden stalls, small coffee tapris, and lush green fields—kissed often by sudden tropical rains, soaked always in humidity and hope.
This isn’t just coffee country. It’s a storybook setting where lava-fed soil, quiet resilience, and corporate–farmer partnerships are reshaping lives—one bean at a time.
The Farm Support That Brews Transformation
Tucked in this terrain is the Starbucks Farmer Support Center (FSC). Here, coffee isn't just consumed—it’s understood, nurtured, and cupped. The journey begins at a nursery near a goat pen, where goat droppings double as nitrogen-rich organic fertiliser. Nearby, baby goats demand head scratches like VIP guests, and passion fruit grows so sweet it almost passes for dessert.
At the center, Brittany Zeller, a global coffee specialist, introduces us to the art of coffee cupping—a sensory exploration of aroma, mouthfeel, and aftertaste. Notes of jackfruit, banana, pepper, and cinnamon dance on the palate, reminding us that coffee is as much climate as it is chemistry.
From Volcanic Ash to Economic Rebirth
A short drive away, Mount Sinabung looms—silent now, but once fierce. In 2016, it erupted violently, burying Ngamanken Pelawi and Junita Br Surbakti’s mandarin orchard under thick ash. Financially and emotionally devastated, they found a lifeline in coffee.
The Starbucks sapling programme offered a second chance. They accepted the seedlings. But more importantly, they received training, agronomic support, and regular handholding from the FSC. The result?
Within a few years, income grew tenfold. What was once a crisis zone is now a coffee micro-cluster, part of Indonesia’s booming smallholder coffee ecosystem—the third-largest globally.
Local Wisdom Meets Global Guidance
Farming in Sumatra isn’t large-scale industrial—it’s backyard and community-driven, involving natural pest management, intercropping, and shade regulation. Coffee beans are often pulped and dried on-site, then sent to regional mills.
It’s sustainable, low-carbon, and deeply rooted in the landscape—both ecological and cultural.
Climate-smart Farming in Action
There’s more than meets the eye.
Even the dragon fruit farms along the route to Cimbang are quietly ingenious. Each vine grows on a trellis with a lightbulb. Why? On overcast days and during the night, lights are switched on to trick the plant into growing—day and night. As our driver jokes, “They’re the only ones working more than the farmers.”
UPSC Takeaways: A Case for Agriculture Answers
| Theme | Notes for GS Paper 3 |
|---|---|
| Agro-climatic adaptation | Volcanic soil, humid tropics, intercropping with fruit trees |
| Climate-smart practices | Natural fertilisers, agroforestry, lighting in fruit farming |
| Resilient livelihoods | Crop diversification after natural disaster (mandarin → coffee) |
| Global-local models | Starbucks FSC training, decentralised processing, localised supply chain |
“In the hills of North Sumatra, a volcanic eruption destroyed orchards but sowed seeds of transformation. With global support and local grit, farmers like Ngamanken Pelawi turned ash into asset—proving that sustainability isn’t just a goal, it’s a lived story.”
Final Reflection
There’s a quiet revolution brewing in Sumatra. It smells like cinnamon, grows under the shadow of a volcano, and thrives on the hands of farmers who once lost everything. Today, they don’t just grow coffee—they grow resilience.
And that’s a reminder for every policymaker, aspirant, or planner: sometimes, all it takes is a sapling, a little science, and a lot of belief.
– Suryavanshi, IAS
(Because policy begins with people — and sometimes, a cup of coffee.)
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