A game changer? Coffee farmers in Malaysia hope to plant the seeds of tourism in a remote corner of Sarawak, Borneo

Indigenous farmers in northeast Sarawak have begun growing coffee and, with the help of a coffee shop owner, hope to sell their beans on international markets

The area already attracts adventurous tourists for jungle treks and boat trips, and villagers hope the coffee project will give visitors another reason to stay

Reading Time:4 minutes

Coffee grower Tomy Pangot and his wife, Anne, with some of the coffee berries from their bushes in Long Banga, Sarawak, Malaysia. Indigenous farmers like him hope to increase their income and draw more tourists to the area. Photo: Chan Kit Yeng

Published: 11:15am, 18 Sep 2023Updated: 4:21pm, 23 Sep 2023

Borneo’s scorching midday sun bakes the mud under my shoes as I follow a group of excited Malaysian farmers towards the fields that, they believe, could help develop tourism in a remote part of Sarawak.

“Here we are.” Bespectacled farmer Tomy Pangot adjusts his straw hat before pointing at a clearing where rows of plants sway in the breeze.

With barely concealed pride, Pangot chaperones us around the neat rows of his liberica coffee plants.

Plump, red cherries cause the branches to bend slightly under their weight – a cargo of hope for Pangot and the people of Long Banga, an outpost in the southern reaches of Ulu Baram, a region in the northeast of Sarawak on the island of Borneo.

“Back in the day, it took us four days on foot to reach school in Bario,” the penghulu (regional head) of Punang Kelapang, Robin Udau, told me, as we shared the welcome dinner offered by another elder for our arrival.

These days, the rugged logging road between the two towns takes about three hours, while the journey from Long Banga to the coast and Miri, the area’s biggest city, is a bumpy four-wheel-drive adventure that can take up to 10 hours.