On Saturday 7 November 2026 the head of the Aceh provincial narcotics agency (BNNP Aceh), Brigadier General Dedy Tabrani, visited Gampong Agusen in Gayo Lues regency, Aceh, to inspect a coffee-growing project rather than to raid a cannabis field.[1] Agusen, previously known as one of the cannabis-planting areas of Aceh’s interior, now grows arabica coffee on the slopes.[1] He was accompanied by the head of the Gayo Lues district BNN office, the BNNK Gayo Lues, its staff and the Agusen village head, or keuchik, and he walked through the BNN-supported coffee garden and talked with farmers who once depended on the illegal crop.[1]

The visit reviewed the Grand Design Alternative Development (GDAD) programme, BNN’s drive to move cannabis farmers to legal crops, and covered a coffee-processing unit using a red-cherry fermentation system and a second coffee factory in Desa Porang run by the BNN-supported Koperasi Kopi Gayo Lues Bersinar cooperative.[1] The account says the visit aimed to see how far the programme had changed livelihoods of residents who previously depended on illegal cannabis planting.[2] BNNP Aceh said the project began with trust-building, with BNNK Gayo Lues officers approaching residents persuasively and offering coffee as a replacement for cannabis, and continued with help on garden care, crop quality, processing and finding buyers.[1]

According to BNNP Aceh data, the BNN-supported coffee garden in Agusen grew from about 70 hectares in 2016 to 250 hectares.[1] Across Gayo Lues, BNNP Aceh said the programme had reached 3,346 farmers with 3,554.6 hectares of coffee garden spread over 11 districts.[1] The agency put the farm-gate coffee price at about Rp18,600 a kilogram before the switch and about Rp68,000 a kilogram now, with fermented wine coffee reaching Rp185,000 a kilogram.[1]

BNN said the cooperative had partnerships with PT Ujang Jaya International and Starbucks as buyers of the farmers’ coffee.[1] Dedy said moving farmers off cannabis required economic alternatives, mentoring and market access, not only handcuffs and the destruction of evidence.[1] The Oposisi News 86 account, attributed to a BNNP Aceh press statement, said the biggest challenge was not only converting cannabis growers to coffee but keeping them in the new business, with stable prices, quality, capital and buyers.[3]