Best Practices for Sustainability of Cooperatives and Coffee Farmers

. The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of best practices in sustainability for coffee cooperatives and coffee farmers in Central Aceh Regency in Aceh Province. These practices are carried out as local wisdom that has been carried out by the community for a long time. This local wisdom practice was subsequently adopted by coffee cooperatives in Central Aceh. This study is an case study. The method is carried out by using semi-structured interviews, and direct observation of sustainability activities included in the 17 SDGs programs in coffee cooperatives. This observation involved 10 coffee cooperatives in Central Aceh Regency who were willing to voluntarily provide information. The implementation of sustainability that is practiced is covered by 3 elements, namely economic, social and environmental. The emphasis is mainly on environmental awareness activities, conducting business based on morals and ethics, and improving the economy broadly and sustainably. The best practice of cooperative on achieving SDGs such as in activity distributing seeds, facilitating access roads to plantations, clean water facilities, pruning training, and public facilities. Other Sustainability activity programs include environmental programs, agricultural training programs, worker safety programs and garden road facility improvement programs.


Introduction
The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) program aims to end poverty, reduce inequality and protect the environment (Eweje et al., 2020).The UN Climate Change Conference (COP27) stated that one of the focuses of the UN's concern for the environment is the threat of climate change or climate change.The UN targets to reduce the impact of climate change and reduce poverty by 2030 with an approach to social, economic and environmental development.The Indonesian government is also committed to tackling the problem of climate change which was discussed at the G20 Summit in Bali as a form of commitment to achieving the SDGs.
The form of support for this problem is certainly expected by all stakeholders by responding to implementation in various forms.Chankselani and McCowan (2020) state that it is impossible for the government to achieve the framework of sustainable development goals without involving other parties, so it is necessary to involve public, private and community sector organizations.Cooperatives are one of the stakeholders who play a role in this issue by implementing sustainability activities in their business.Cooperative means collaboration, helping each other because the collaboration carried out is intended for the interests and goals that are in line with the members of the Cooperative (Rumetna et al., 2020).Cooperative management has the nature of kinship and cooperation so that it requires active action and the participation of all members.The active action of cooperative members is part of a social movement in support of the SDGs.
Cooperatives in Indonesia were established based on the 1945 Constitution article 33 paragraph 1 which states that the economy is structured as a joint venture on the basis of kinship.The cooperative law in Indonesia is UU no 17/2012.Cooperatives are business entities whose members are voluntary and provide benefits to small communities in fulfilling social justice and prosperity for all members (Damayanti, 2016).Thus, the application of the concept of sustainability to cooperatives is in line with SDGs goal besides contributing to increased income or profits.Cooperatives support the community's economy through increasing the welfare of members.Raidayani (2018) states that increasing the welfare of cooperative members can reduce community poverty as one of the objectives of the SDGs concept.Therefore, to improve the welfare of community members, cooperatives really need member participation and good cooperative governance to increase the success of cooperatives, so that the impact on cooperative sustainability is increasingly optimal.The success of cooperatives is a measure of achieving the SDGs and the sustainability of cooperatives.Ardiyanti & Mora (2019) states that the success of a cooperative business is an activity by directing one's energy and thoughts in order to get better or more advanced changes, both qualitatively and quantitatively according to the goals that have been set.
The purpose of this paper is to discuss sustainability best practices in coffee cooperatives and coffee farmers in Central Aceh Regency.Central Aceh Regency is a highland with an altitude between 200 -2600 meters above sea level with an area of 4,454.50km2, located in the Bukit Barisan mountains in the province of Aceh.Most of the people of Central Aceh Regency work as coffee farmers.Central Aceh Regency produces one of the best types of Arabica coffee in the world.Based on data from the Central Aceh Disperindagkop there are 224 active cooperatives, including 22 cooperatives engaged in the coffee and export trade.About 85 percent of the Gayo Arabica coffee harvest in Central Aceh Regencyas in Bener Meriah and Gayo Lues is exported to several countries while the other 15 percent is to meet local market demand and a number of regions in Indonesia.The Baitul Qiradh Baburayyan Cooperative is one of the cooperatives that has been around for a long time by managing Gayo coffee farming land of approximately 11,000 hectares, which has direct access to Starbucks International (aceh.antaranews.com).The local government is also working with the Sustainable Coffee Platform Indonesia (Scopi) to provide increased education and professionalism for coffee farmers about managing sustainable coffee plantations.
The novelty of this paper is discuss about sustainability best practices and their relationship to achieving the SDGs in coffee cooperatives and coffee farmers in Central Aceh Regency.These practices are carried out as local wisdom that has been carried out by the community for a long time.This local wisdom practice was subsequently adopted by coffee cooperatives in Central Aceh.The implementation of sustainability that is practiced is covered by 3 elements, namely economic, social and environmental and identification of achievement of the SDGs.The emphasis is mainly on environmental awareness activities, conducting business based on morals and ethics, and improving the economy broadly and sustainably.Previous articles such as Bilfield, 2022.Bhinekawati, 2023 only discusses about empowering coffee farmers to preserve kerinci seblat national park, Indonesia by establishing a cooperative.Wardhiani et.al, 2023 concerning ICT's presence can improve the performance and institutional sustainability of coffee farmers in rural areas, including cooperatives.Meanwhile, Jumawan, 2022, discusses financial sustainability.
The principle of sustainability refers to how cooperatives and farmers carry out their activities, taking into account the sustainability of resources in the future.Sustainable development guides how the use of current resources is considered and opportunities for future generations are considered.The practices carried out cover 17 SDGs programs which are covered in three major aspects, namely economic, social and environmental.The environment, social and community greatly influence the activities of cooperatives and farmers to participate in the social and community environment, differences in customs and habits in society cause differences in the implementation of cooperative and farmer activities.
This study is an case study.Creswell (2014) explains that exploratory qualitative research is an approach to explore and understand the meaning of individuals or groups in responding to social or human problems, understanding the stories and experiences of participants (Sekaran and Bougie, 2019).The method is carried out by using semistructured interviews, and direct observation of sustainability activities included in the 17 SDGs programs in coffee cooperatives.This observation involved 10 coffee cooperatives in Central Aceh Regency who were willing to voluntarily provide information.A number of 10 relevant cooperative and 30 participants who were interviewed in this observation are depicted in Table 1

Total Informants 30
The approach is carried out using participatory and discussion methods, by providing questions (semi-structured interview) related to sustainability practices in economic, social and environment to cooperative who are willing to act as informants.The interviewed consisted of cooperative managers , employees, members of coffee farmers and community leaders. .Additional information is obtained from cooperative reports and from internet and media news.Then the results of interviews, report data, and media information will be used as the basis for identifying activities related to SDGs referring to table 2 below.

Cooperative demographics
The BQB Cooperative is the oldest cooperative (28 years old), founded in 1995 by Tarmizi Karim, located in Kampung Pondok Gajah, Central Aceh.Even though it had experienced a setback until it closed in 2000 due to the impact of the conflict in Aceh, KBQ Baburayyan managed to rise.This cooperative is the oldest cooperative in Central Aceh with 6,000 coffee farmer members, consisting of 5,180 certified coffee farmers, 195 members of the general public, and more than 100 employees.The BQB Cooperative is the only cooperative from Indonesia capable of supplying coffee to Starbucks, a multinational franchised company.
Furthermore, the Arg cooperative is 17 years old and RK is 16 years old.The Arg cooperative has coffee farmers in 32 villages in Central Aceh as members, while the KR cooperative has 538 members.Both of these cooperatives have received organic control union and rainforest alliance certification in 2007, and fair trade in 2008.Arg cooperative have been present at several international coffee trade show attendance at Global Coffee Expo SCAA USA, Singapore, Dublin, Germany and Seoul.Arinagata cooperative also has 1 Certification & environment Manager along with 11 employees.
One of the typical cooperatives is the KWG cooperative, which is the only women's coffee cooperative in the Southeast Asian region that is part of an international women farmer organization, namely the Organic Product Trading Company (OPTCO).As for Kokowagayo's market share, 70 percent goes to the US, 20 percent goes to Europe, and 10 percent goes to Australia.
The following are the demographics of cooperatives observed:

Policy of Sustainability
Sustainability activity policies carried out in cooperatives are based on social and environmental responsibility with programs for the needs of farmers/cooperative members and adapted to the capabilities of cooperative resources.Several sources, such as the RK cooperative, the SA cooperative stated that their policies were: "Social and environmental activities in cooperatives are obligations that must be carried out by cooperatives for the sustainability of cooperatives and the community environment...based on cooperative awareness of environmental preservation and social inequality" What is the basic objective of implementing sustainability in coffee cooperatives in general is for the welfare of members and coffee farmers, turning member gardens into quality gardens.Then, another source as the chairman of the cooperative stated: "As for the background of the environment-based program in our cooperative is the need for the cooperative to obtain fair trade certification where our cooperative must be accountable for the funds for the fair trade."This is also an important point when cooperatives have received assistance from fair trade funds, they are bound by social and environmental responsibilities that they must carry out.The results of interviews with others also stated the background of sustainability programs, especially for increasing welfare, increasing knowledge of coffee cultivation, the obligation of certification for the welfare of its members, and the concern and obligations of cooperatives towards farmer members.

Sustainability Activity
The RK Cooperative has been carrying out sustainability activities since 2015.The form of the program consists of 2 activities, physical activities in the form of distributing agricultural tools, lawn mowers and scissors while activities carried out during the Covid-19 pandemic by distributing polytanks, building trash bins and providing cash assistance during big celebrations and socializing certification standards for coffee farmers.
Other forms of activity carried out by the SA cooperative are distributing seeds, facilitating access roads to plantations, clean water facilities, pruning training, and public facilities.Other Sustainability activity programs carried out by the Arg cooperative include environmental programs, agricultural training programs, worker safety programs and garden road facility improvement programs (program training for employee such pelatihan budidaya kopi, managemen kopi).Another resource person, namely the Ars cooperative, said that the form of the assistance program was in the form of cash ahead of Ramadhan and Eid holidays, budget assistance for the construction of public facilities at the village level.Then the GH cooperative takes the form of a program that is implemented, namely training and infrastructure development.Slightly different from the activities in other cooperatives, the UTG cooperative carries out a donation program for the weak economy, humanitarian and health programs.The RG Cooperative carries out broader social and environmental programs, namely the distribution of seeds, reforestation by distributing annual plant seeds, re-processing of cooperative waste such as coffee skins, Ari skin waste being reused for organic fertilizer for coffee plantations, sharing of fees for communities that supply coffee, and for employee.Finally, the GLA cooperative carried out a program of distributing seeds, building access roads to the gardens, handling waste, distributing agricultural tools and distributing groceries.
The results of direct observation of sustainability activities included in the 17 SDGs programs in coffee cooperatives in Central Aceh are presented in the following

Conclusion
The implementation of the sustainability program has been applied to coffee cooperatives in Central Aceh District and the types of activities carried out have shown that cooperatives are responsible for members, the environment, society and society.The best practice of cooperative on achieving SDGs such as in activity distributing seeds, facilitating access roads to plantations, clean water facilities, pruning training, and public facilities.Other Sustainability activity programs include environmental programs, agricultural training programs, worker safety programs and garden road facility improvement programs The impact of the sustainability program on coffee cooperatives shows that cooperatives can maintain and improve the image of cooperatives and improve the welfare of cooperative members with the implementation of Corporate Social Responsibility.The implementation of sustainability activities is motivated by the obligations that cooperatives must carry out for the sustainability of the cooperative and the community environment.The activity proposal process is based on cooperative awareness about environmental preservation and social inequality.The aim of implementing sustainability is to improve the welfare of members and coffee farmers, make member gardens into quality gardens and the impact felt by members and coffee farmers, namely that farmers gain an understanding of environmental management.The impact felt by cooperatives is that investors are interested in investing in cooperatives.The measure of the Cooperative's success in carrying out sustainability is that every program carried out is implemented and every year it increases.

Figure 1 .
Figure 1.Arg cooperative coffee farmers planted coffee seeds, soil management training and bokasi fertilizers.

Table 1 .
: Cooperative and Participants

Table 2 .
SDGs Goals and Measurement