Improving Community Welfare Through the Cultivation of Coffee: A Case Study of Bondowoso's Coffee Republic, Indonesia

Abstract

This paper seeks to examine the efforts of the Bondowoso community to grow coffee to empower and welfare the community. Community empowerment is carried out through the Coffee Republic program as a form of cooperation between local governments and communities. This research applied a qualitative approach. First, data collection is information about community empowerment in the people's coffee program in Bondowoso regency. The population and sample of this study are stakeholders who understand the 'coffee republic' program and the coffee growers. The secondary data is sociocultural information in Bondowoso Regency, East Java. The study used the perspective of human ecology and green social welfare. The first perspective explains the relationship between humans and the surrounding natural environment. While the second one is used to describe the relationship between the environment and social problem-solving resource systems, particularly in rural communities. The results of this study showed that the people's coffee program under the name of the Coffee Republic positively impacted the economic empowerment of the Bondowoso community, especially in providing more jobs and increasing income. This research contributes to giving strategic feedback to regional governments on alternative strategies for empowering a community through coffee production.

Received: 21 April 2022 / Accepted: 28 February 2023 / Published: 5 March 2023