Coffee's Making a Comeback

Over 30 years ago, coffee held an important place in New Caledonia's agricultural sector. But when other sectors proved more lucrative, plantations were abandoned as too labour intensive. With modern mechanised methods however, coffee is making a comeback.

Pierre Cochard is a strong advocate of coffee. He has just received a prestigious French quality award for his coffee, Leroy, a locally developed Arabica variety.

Green coffee beans...50 tonnes are produced annually and sold on the local market. Photo: Tuo Chinula.

Before the fall of New Caledonia's coffee industry, Leroy was renowned for its quality. Now that mechanised techniques are available, Cochard believes it's time to resurrect it.

He's banking on its high quality to fetch similarly high prices. Mechanisation would not be feasible with a lower quality, he says. He started growing coffee on a trial basis several years ago on a six-hectare block of land. Encouraged by the results, he has decided it's time to expand. This year, he planted 45 hectares of coffee on leased land. Along with his six trial hectares, he estimates it will yield 100 tonnes in three to four years.

Now that planting's done, the next phase is to invest in harvesting and processing equipment. "To harvest manually we'd need 150 to 200 people which is out of the question financially as the cost of labour here is so high." Cochard will sell his coffee on the international market where Blue Mountain coffee, at US$68 a kilogram, currently fetches the highest price. Using this as an indicator, Cochard, who believes Leroy could be just as good, says he's aiming to get around US$56 a kilogram.

Another enthusiastic coffee advocate is Christopher Van Pethegem, a local entrepreneur. Four years ago, along with a partner from Japan, Ken Matsumoto, he planted around 60,000 coffee bushes on 20 hectares which yielded its first harvest this year.

Van Pethegem doesn't do things by halves. He's built a processing factory which processes coffee from the berry stage right through to the packaging stage. "Mechanisation has made coffee cultivation financially feasible for growers. The primary product fetches low prices so we're processing it ourselves," he says. "We're not going to be the prey of coffee dealers." The investment has cost around US$2 million. Van Pethegem admits it's a big risk but says he has faith in New Caledonia and wants to see the sector developed. Other growers will have access to the factory which he hopes will give them confidence in the sector. "People are always skeptic but now there's a processing factory they'll be more motivated to go into coffee growing."

Not everyone has abandoned the old method. On the east coast, coffee continues to be cultivated on a traditional scale as a family activity and growers still use manual methods. They mainly grow Robusta varieties adapted to the local conditions. Growers sell their harvest to a local co-operative. Around 50 tonnes of green beans are produced annually and sold on the local market.