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Blitar chocolate village, The sweet taste of success
Itâs in the air: Visitors enjoy cool atmosphere in spacious terrace surrounded by cacao trees
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It's in the air: Visitors enjoy cool atmosphere in spacious terrace surrounded by cacao trees.
Chocolate is a popular snack but only a select few are aware of how the sweet treat is made from scratch.
While most chocolate producers keep their recipes perfectly hidden and their kitchens firmly closed, it's not the case with a chocolate village in Blitar, East Java.
Located in Plosorejo village, Kademangan district, some 30 kilometers from Blitar city, Kholid Mustofa has transformed a 1-hectare (ha) plot of land into Kampung Coklat (chocolate village).
There, visitors can find a seedling nursery, see the cacao seed drying process and see tree planting.
It also houses a production area, a display room for chocolate and a spacious terrace, surrounded by cacao trees.
The display room presents cacao products with the brand name 'GuSant', which sounds foreign.
'The name is actually an acronym from the Javanese words guyub santoso ' meaning working together to achieve common welfare,' Kholid says.
Guyub Santoso is also the name of the farmers' association he manages, with members coming from the surrounding East Java cities, as well as from Central Java.
The association produced 469,658 kilograms of dry cacao seeds last year, benefitting some 15,000
cacao farmers.
The production area stores processed cacao items ' from original chocolate, milk chocolate to dark chocolate. The prices range from Rp 2,000 to Rp 35,000.
Kholid said that at first, back in 2004, he entered the cacao-processing venture to revise his business following the demise of his poultry breeding venture following an epidemic.
'As I come from a family of farmers, I've been familiar with farming since I was little,' the father of two said.
Before starting out, he sought further information on the commodity and took an internship program at the state plantation company in Nglegok district, Blitar regency and at the Indonesian Coffee and Cacao Research Center in Jember, East Java.
Soon he realized cacao's potential, especially since Indonesia was one of the largest cacao producing countries in the world along with Ivory Coast and Ghana.
According to Agriculture Ministry data, Indonesia produced around 800,000 tons of cacaos last year, with a total cacao plantation area of some 1.6 million ha.
Armed with the knowledge, Kholid started to grow cacao trees and sell cacao seeds.
Happy with the result, he decided to take the new business seriously, considering that cacao planting was not hard ' the seedlings were simply grown in poly-bags for about two to four months.
Within two years, the plants will bear fruit. A tree remains productive for 25 years, even longer with good maintenance.
One cacao plant, he said, can produce around 4 kg, while 1 ha produces some 4 to 5 tons annually.
For quality guarantees, cacao seeds are required to meet the Indonesian National Standard (SNI), for example, having a 7 percent average and an 8 percent maximum water content; 5 percent fungi; 110 seeds per 100 grams; and 4 percent impurities.
Cacao maintenance is quite simple. It includes frequent pruning to prevent humid air and fungi development as well as the constant monitoring of plant nutritional intake.
Various chocolate specialties developed since mid-2013 have considerably attracted visitors.
'In fact we're quite overwhelmed by market demand, meaning this cacao cultivation business has a high potential,' said the man, who is also chairman of the Indonesian Cacao Farmers' Association in East Java.
Kholid considers farmers the most crucial factor in ensuring his business success and he willingly shares his knowledge with farmers or others wishing to learn about developing the chocolate industry.
At the place, he reserves a training facility for chocolate making, from seedling identification, cacao planting, post-harvest cultivation and production.
All knowledge, in what he calls an education tourism package, is offered at the price of Rp 15,000 to Rp 50,000 per person.
He said the packages, on offer starting early this year, had drawn the interest of many, from kindergarten, high school and college students to tourists.
'Visitors who only wish to get a glimpse of the production process will be provided with free information
by our guides,' said the 41-year-old, who employs 86 workers at the site.
Visitors are allowed to explore the grounds and take pictures or simply enjoy their cocoa drinks.
The recipient of the Pro Poor Award 2011 from the East Java administration hopes his business will motivate others to join in, allowing the industry to further develop and bringing unemployment down. 'It's the will to work hard under prevailing conditions that matters,' he said.
' Photos by Nedi Putra AW
