BONDOWOSO – Kabarnusa24.com
The Bondowoso Regency Government continues to develop the potential of local coffee through cooperation with the International Labour Organization (ILO), which is headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland.
This collaboration aims to improve the competitiveness of the coffee industry while promoting sustainable improvements in farmers’ welfare.
The commitment emerged during a visit by the ILO Headquarters team from Geneva to the Bondowoso Regency Pendopo on Thursday, October 22, 2026.
The visit formed part of efforts to strengthen support for the implementation of Phase 3 of a project focused on developing the coffee industry.
Bondowoso Regent Abdul Hamid Wahid welcomed the visit. He stated that collaboration with the ILO represented a strategic opportunity to maximize Bondowoso’s coffee potential, improve product quality, and expand its competitiveness in broader markets.
He emphasized that coffee industry development should not focus solely on increasing harvest yields and sales revenue.
More importantly, improvements are needed in product quality, productivity, production management, and supply chains to ensure that farmers can directly benefit from these efforts.
The local government is also paying close attention to improving farmers’ quality of life and creating decent working conditions in the plantation sector.
The Regent explained that the ILO team’s field visits, which began in the morning, provided an overview of the current conditions and various challenges facing Bondowoso’s coffee industry ecosystem.
The findings are expected to serve as a basis for evaluation and consideration in formulating development strategies that meet the needs of farmers and local coffee businesses.
The Bondowoso Regency Government expressed its readiness to strengthen cooperation with the ILO by providing the necessary policy support and facilities, ensuring that the program can be implemented effectively, reach its intended beneficiaries, and deliver positive impacts for the community.
The visit was also attended by Yousra Hamed, Senior Technical Expert in Financial Inclusion at ILO Geneva; Thomas from ILO Jakarta; Aris Budiman, Head of the Jember Financial Services Authority (OJK); and several heads of departments within the Bondowoso Regency Government.
Through this cross-institutional cooperation, Bondowoso is expected to strengthen its coffee industry ecosystem from upstream production to downstream markets.
Improvements in quality and productivity need to go hand in hand with enhanced farmer capacity, better business management, and improved working conditions.
Consequently, coffee can become not only a leading regional commodity but also an increasingly promising source of livelihood for the community, particularly farmers and plantation business operators.
