REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, DENPASAR - Bali exports 961 kilograms of coffee worth 74,376.67 US dollars in the first quarter this year, a 3.31 percent increase from 13,916 US dollars in same period last year. But in terms of volume there had been an increase of only 186.87 percent because in last year`s same period only 335 kilograms had been exported, Head of the Bali government administration spokesman I Ketut Teneng said onThursday.

He said last year Bali exported 30.26 tons of coffee worth 215,074 US dollars, a 30.26 percent increase from 126,584 US dollars in last year`s same period. Ketut Teneng said Balinese farmers started growing environmentally favorable coffee in Bali by using organic fertilizers from cows. "The coffee growers have been synergising their activities with cow farming on the sidelines of their plantations, so that they received double income, namely cows and coffee, and the wastes of the cows are used to fertilize their coffee crops," Ketut Teneng said.

The coffee can compete in the export market with similar commodities of other countries. Ketut Teneng added that coffee took the form of rice seeds and after processing reached the Japanese and French markets as well as those in some other countries in Europe.

Head of the Bali provincial plantation agency I Dewa Made Buana Duwuran said on a different occasion that Bali last year produced 3,080 tons of arabica coffee, a five percent drop from the previous 3,245 tons.

The drop is the result of unfavorable climate and weather, while the improvement of the coffee crops continued. The coffee crops in Bali covered 10,485 hectares while last year 9,448 hectares. Nearly 80 percent of the coffee crops is located in Kintamani, Bangli regency, and 20 pct in Tabanan, Jembrana, Karangasem and Buleleng regencies. The arabica coffee being developed is of export quality and of two types "kopyor" and 795, popular among foreign consumers, he said.

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