The pristine mountains and waters of eastern Taiwan have outstanding agricultural value.

Originating in the Central Mountain Range, the Xiu­gu­luan River flows north through the East Rift Valley, before turning east in Hua­lien County’s Rui­sui Township, cutting through the coastal mountains, and tumbling into the sea. A great place for whitewater rafting, Rui­sui is also a center of agriculture and animal husbandry. The township contains an area of fertile tablelands known as Wuhe.

Because of the steep basin topography, the Amis living in Wuhe call the area Ka­lala, which means “basket.”

The area’s pomelos and black tea are famous throughout Taiwan. Thanks to the efforts of the Ka­lala Development Association, there has been a shift locally toward growing coffee using sustainable methods. The beans have met with great enthusiasm, and the stable income from the crop has enticed more young people from the village to seek their fortunes back home.

Kalala’s farming co-op plants companion crops among its coffee trees so as to limit insect damage.

Wuhe’s Amis elders still remember how the Japanese carved out coffee plantations on 400 hectares in Wuhe’s tablelands 200 meters above sea level.

“A coffee processing plant was set up in Ka­lala,” says tribe member Chen Yu­ying, 51. “Out of a total of 600 metric tons of coffee beans then being exported from Taiwan to Japan, 480 metric tons came through Wuhe.”

A strong foundation for coffee production was thus established in Wuhe during the Japanese era. Consequently, when the coffee drinking culture was getting established in Taiwan ten-some years ago, it triggered a revival of coffee planting in Ka­lala.

At the same time, the tribespeople began to consider how to produce coffee with a unique Ka­lala character. In 2008, with the encouragement of several outsider friends who were not Aborigines, Ka­lala formally established its development association, with Chen Yu­ying taking the helm as executive director. She pushed local growers to adopt environmentally friendly farming practices and brought together tribe members with similar values to found a farming co-op.

Currently, the co-op has six member households, who together harvest coffee, pomelos, bananas and other crops. They share costs and collectively handle Internet publicity, orders and shipping. In recent years they have cultivated a small but stable group of customers (including the Homemakers Union Consumers Co-op) who put a lot of value on consuming produce free from toxins.

Chen Yuying (left), executive director of Kalala’s development ­association, and Huang Zhenghong, manager of the village’s farming co-op, ­diligently guard the quality of Kalala’s sustainably grown coffee.

Now 37, ­Huang Zheng­hong is an Amis who married a woman from Ka­lala. After he suffered an injury, he and his wife moved back to her hometown, where he joined the local development association and ended up volunteering to serve as manager of the farming co-op.

­Huang explains that the biggest difference between the ­co-op and regular farms is the crop diversity on display in the ­co-op’s fields. For instance, next to a coffee tree you might find any of a variety of crops, including lemons, sweet potatoes and bananas.

Huang explains that growing diverse “companion” crops creates a “planted forest” that repels damaging insects.

Consequently, the co-op doesn’t need to spray pesticides or engage in heavy weeding, and instead relies completely on the ecological balance to prevent insect damage. Last year it harvested about 1200 kilograms of ripe coffee, which yielded about 120 kilos of coffee beans after roasting. It sells five to 25 pounds of packaged coffee beans in an average month.

Chen Yu­ying explains that the “pulped natural,” a.k.a. “honey” processing method gives Ka­lala coffee its special character. “The way the coffee cherries are dried is what makes this method special.”

After the ripe coffee “cherries” are picked and their skins removed, a layer of fleshy fruit pulp remains attached to the beans. The so-called “honey treatment” is achieved by laying the beans to dry out under the sun along with the pulp.

Because the fruit contains both gelatin and water, if the weather is poor during the first three days that the beans are laid out with the fruit pulp still attached, or if one doesn’t frequently turn them, they can easily go bad or mildew. But if you handle them just right, then the drying fruit will give the beans a higher sugar content, and the coffee brewed from them will be sweeter.

That method of processing the beans is hardly unique to Ka­lala. But honey treatments are employed there, says ­Huang Zheng­hong, as a result of the topography. Since ­water supplies are so limited, the locals typically don’t wash the beans like growers do elsewhere.

The beans from the Ka­lala farming co-op undergo the treatment for 30 days, after which they take on a golden hue quite unlike the even white typical of water-washed beans.

“Differences in topography and climate,” says Chen Yu­ying, “not only affect the way coffee is grown, but also the way the coffee crop is processed.”

The farming co-op in Ka­lala harvests pineapples in March and April and rice in May and June. In July the members take a break and prepare for the harvest festival. In August and September they harvest pomelos, and they start harvesting coffee in October, before preparing for a new rice crop in November.

Kalala’s development association hopes that steady income from agriculture will attract young people to return home and spark a revival of the village’s fortunes. ­Huang explains that nearly 10 young people, brimming with optimism for the village’s future, have returned to Wuhe in recent years to plant tea and coffee.

The coffee produced by the farming co-op, however limited in quantity, has earned praise and a devoted clientele. Much to the farmers’ surprise, it has, along with pomelos, turned out to be the co-op’s most popular crop.

“It’s been a triple win for the people involved, for our tribal village, and for the farming industry,” Chen says.