The purpose of this study is to investigate the mechanism of coffee agroforestry establishment based on joint forest management (pengelolaan hutan bersama masyarakat, PHBM, in Indonesian / community based forest management, CBFM, in English) in Bandung District, West Java Province, and the effect of introducing coffee cultivation on rural society and state forest management. Promotion of agroforestry is expected to preserve forests and improve the livelihoods of local people, but there is concern that it will increase disparity in the community. A field survey revealed two factors in the establishment of the agroforestry, one institutional and the other economic. The institutional factor is the design of PHBM that allowed only coffee cultivation in state forests and obligated state forest farmers to plant shade trees in their allocated patch. The economic factor is that, in addition to forest village community organizations (LMDH in Indonesian), commercial companies promoted coffee cultivation in the allocated compartments for their own profit. The expanded coffee cultivation benefited only certain farmers, and there was concern about the widening economic disparity within the community. To maintain the fairness of opportunity in the state forest, improvements in the independence of state forest farmers are thus required, such as reducing the burden of the initial investment by distributing shade trees and coffee seedlings. From these results, the introduction of agroforestry based on a crop of high commercial value is expected to promote forest conservation, but there is also concern that a trade-off may occur that deviates from the PHBM principle of improving access to forest resources for local people.