KOKOWAGAYO
Koperasi Kopi Wanita Gayo · Gayo Highlands, Aceh, Indonesia
About this project
In late November 2025, extreme rainfall triggered devastating floods and landslides across Aceh province in Indonesia — a disaster compounded by degraded watersheds and steep highland terrain. The event struck directly at KOKOWAGAYO's operational area in Bener Meriah and Central Aceh districts. A rapid assessment by cooperative field staff documented the scale: 674 member farmers affected across 13 villages, 156 hectares of farmland damaged, 30% average production losses, and individual financial losses averaging 25 million rupiah per hectare. Every single affected member is a woman.
The flooding caused slope failure, landslide-driven soil erosion, destruction of terrace structures, and widespread coffee tree mortality across farms where Gayo Arabica is the primary — often only — source of household income. Farm access roads and small bridges were washed out or made impassable, cutting farmers off from their plots and from market.
While Fairtrade stepped in to provide water infrastructure and psychosocial support, replanting destroyed coffee trees and restoring farm-level road and bridge access fell outside their scope. That gap is precisely where the Cooperative Coffees impact fund — funded in part by every bag of Desert Sun coffee sold — made its move. This is KOKOWAGAYO's first project through the fund.
Photos
Project goals
Replant 27,200 coffee tree seedlings across 17 hectares, prioritizing farmers with crop losses exceeding 80%, plots in high-risk flood and landslide zones, and smallholders under one hectare with coffee as their sole income source.
Restore farm-level access — small bridges and access roads — in all 13 priority villages identified by the cooperative's own field staff, reconnecting farmers to their plots and to markets.
Bring Root Capital on-site as implementing partner for fiduciary oversight and technical coaching on replanting techniques, soil conservation, and long-term land management to reduce vulnerability to future flood events.
Who this supports
Project updates
June 2026 — Funding approved
The Cooperative Coffees impact fund voted to approve $21,820 for KOKOWAGAYO's flood recovery and replanting project. Procurement of nursery stock and coordination with Root Capital is underway.
More updates coming as replanting gets underway. Check back soon.