Lampung coffee farmers and exporters claim the U.S financial crisis has contributed to the fall in the price of the commodity.

"In the past, 2001-2002, when the price fell to Rp 3,000 per kilogram, many frustrated farmers cut down their coffee trees."

Another coffee farmer, Suharno of Sumberjaya, West Lampung, said he was ready to "change" his coffee plantation if the price continued to drop.

Without giving the exact amount of money involved, exporters claimed to have suffered losses of 30 percent because of the decline in price of coffee at the London terminal.

Lampung is the largest robusta coffee producer in Indonesia. Currently the province has 163,837 hectares of coffee plantations with 218,447 workers.