The country’s cocoa output may rise next year for the first time in four years as crops mature and yields improve, the Indonesian Cocoa Asociation says.
Production could rise to 500,000 metric tons from an estimated 480,000 tons this year, as improved yields offset any setback from lack of rain should an El Nino weather phenomenon occur, chairman
of the Indonesian Cocoa Association Halim Abdul Razak said Thursday.
El Nino conditions shift weather patterns around the world and can cause drought in the Asia-Pacific.
Cocoa prices have dropped 5.5 percent this year as the global recession eroded demand for the beans, used in chocolate.
Indonesia, the world’s third-biggest producer, cultivates cocoa on 1.2 million hectares, mainly on Sulawesi island and increasingly in Sumatra. Production has fallen from about 600,000 tons in 2006 because of disease and pest infestation, according to the association.
“In Sulawesi, at least 50,000 hectares of new plants have started to produce cocoa this year, and more will mature next year,” Razak said in an interview quoted by Bloomberg.
“New plants in Sumatra and Sulawesi will offset the impact” from adverse weather and plant pests and diseases”
Halim also questioned the involvement of private business in the Ministry of Agriculture program to boost national cocoa production, saying it resulted in high costs being imposed on farmers.
The program is divided into three schemes: planting high quality seeds to replace old cocoa trees, grafting trees with high quality buds, and conducting training as well s distributing free fertilizers to farmers.
The government holds the program in nine provinces in the eastern part of Indonesia.
Problems emerge because the seed distribution is managed by private companies; cocoa farmers must pay high prices to get the high quality seeds and plant grafting services, as the consequences.
“The prices paid by farmers to buy the seeds is about Rp 8,000 [70 US cents] each tree while to get plant grafting service is set at Rp 5,000 for each tree,” Halim said.
The prices were unreasonably expensive compared to the prices set by Indonesian Coffee and Cocoa Research Institute.
The institute’s price of seeds is Rp 4,000 for each tree, while that for grafting service is Rp 3,000 for each tree, according Halim.
The ministry does not actually need private companies to distribute the seeds and to conduct plant grafting services, Halim said.
“The regional ministry’s agencies should distribute the seeds directly to farmers with more affordable price. The agencies could also provide the buds for grafting and train the farmers.”
Commenting on the criticism, the ministry’s director general of plantation Achmad Mangga Barani said that the ministry’s could not directly distribute the seeds and buds since the law regulated that all government projects must be tendered.
Achmad added that the seed priced were reasonable.
“The private companies channelled the distribution of seeds from a research institute in Jember [East Java] to the farmers in the eastern part of Indonesia. Of course the companies must receive payment for the distribution activities.”
The same applies for the grafting buds, which were taken from high quality plants. (mrs)
