COORDINATED UPGRADING OF CAP TIKUS AS A REGULATED RURAL BEVERAGE ENTERPRISE

Abstract

Traditional distilled beverages can sustain rural livelihoods while operating under interconnected technical, market, and regulatory constraints. This exploratory qualitative case note examines the Cap Tikus enterprise system in Keroit Village, South Minahasa, Indonesia, and develops a case-informed framework for future evaluation. The retained study record comprised perspectives from two farmer-producers, one collector/distributor, and one village official, together with reported observations of production practices and documentary materials. Because the retained record did not include raw transcripts, a complete coding archive, exact fieldwork dates, or verifiable ethics documentation, the analysis is reported as a bounded reconstruction of case indications rather than a fully auditable thematic study. Six indications were identified: climate and raw-material vulnerability; fragile equipment and occupational-safety concerns; limited process measurement and quality documentation; regulatory uncertainty; dependence on intermediaries and volatile prices; and fragmented collective and digital capability. These conditions appear to reinforce one another and constrain process consistency, lawful market access, bargaining power, and producer value capture. The paper proposes a five-stage intervention logic covering baseline mapping, risk reduction, shared quality governance, collective market coordination, and responsible market development. The reported possibility of a 45% income increase is retained only as an untested planning scenario. The contribution is a context-bound configuration proposition for regulated rural enterprises. Future studies should use multi-stakeholder samples, verified field records, laboratory testing, value-chain accounting, and longitudinal impact evaluation.