Increasing National Cocoa Productivity through the Cocoa-Specific KUR Scheme
Palu, 31 May 2022 - In order to create coordination and communication between members and strategic partners, Cocoa Sustainability Partnership (CSP) had General Assembly Meeting which was held three times a year. And in this mid 2022 the meeting became special. After only met online during pandemic, CSP members and strategic partners were meeting face to face for the first time.
The General Assembly Meeting discussed the theme of “The Government Micro Credit Scheme in the Cocoa Sector (Cocoa-Specific KUR) to Increase National Cocoa Productivity”, and had been held on Tuesday, May 31, 2022, at Pogombo, Central Sulawesi Governor’s Office.
Suharman Sumpala as the CSP General Assembly Chairperson welcomed the participants consisting of representatives CSP members and strategic partners, representatives of the Central Sulawesi provincial government, regional governments of Central Sulawesi province, Cocoa Associations, and other observers. “Hopefully, from our discussion today, we can come up with a conclusion that can be followed up for our cocoa farmers,” said the CSP General Assembly Chairperson.
On the same time, the Chairperson of CSP Advisory Board, and also as the Minister Deputy for Food and Agribusiness, Coordinating Ministry for Economic Affair, said KUR access for farmers was made easier, schemes were more diverse, and interest rates were getting lower. This policy was expected to encourage cocoa farmers to take maximum advantage of KUR so productivity could be increased. “So far, CSP has collaborated and coordinated with the government in advancing smallholder cocoa farmers. Diverse initiatives have been carried out with the government, such as the fulfillment of cocoa farmers access to cocoa-specific fertilizer which have been included in the national budget allocation scheme for subsidized fertilizers,“ said Dr. Ir. Musdhalifah Machmud, M.T.
The CSP General Assembly Meeting was officially opened by H. Rusdy Mastura, the Governor of Central Sulawesi province. In his remark, he invited all stakeholders in Central Sulawesi to rebuild the glory of cocoa. "Let's bring back the glory of Central Sulawesi cocoa as a cocoa trading center in Indonesia," said the Governor of Central Sulawesi.
In the discussion session, CSP invited the Director of Annual Crops and Refreshment Plants, the General Directorate of State Crop, the Ministry of Agriculture Ir. Hendratmojo Bagus Hudoro, M.Sc. In his presentation, he said that rejuvenation and maintenance of cocoa plants needed good financial access. “Access to finance is important to run sustainability,” he said.
The Regent of Sigi District, represented by the Head of the Food Crops, Horticulture and Plantation Office, Rahmad Iqbal Nurchalis, also said many of our plants were aged and unproductive. "Therefore, the need for cocoa seeds is very important and strategic in cocoa development," said Rahmad Iqbal Nurchalis.
Dr. Sri Maryati and Jeremy Hicks recently made a study on the cacao seed business in several areas and found that the initiation of nursery establishments in Sulawesi, especially in Sigi District, Central Sulawesi, became a sustainable model. This was good for solving the problem of supplying certified planting material. The study was carried out by the Tropical Forest Alliance and CSP.
This General Assembly Meeting also held with the signing of a memorandum of understanding between the Sigi District Government, CSP, Lingkar Temu Kabupaten Lestari (LTKL), and the Partnership for Indonesia Sustainable Agriculture (PISAgro).This memorandum of understanding was expected to be an initiative so that cocoa farmers could get good access financing to increase the production and productivity of their cocoa plants. Through this memorandum, CSP also initiated the development of the seed nursery and supported the planting material for side grafting in Sigi District.
The Executive Director of CSP, Wahyu Wibowo also emphasized that CSP had proposed 5 other superior cocoa clones to the Ministry of Agriculture to be included in the ministerial decree as candidates for certified rootstock. And also said that CSP and its members were willing if the local government needed technical assistance in initiating the development of seed gardens and providing quality planting materials.
Another activity that was carried out during the meeting was the campaign for cocoa sustainability in Indonesia. By inviting several MSMEs of Central Sulawesi Province who were working on chocolate processing. This campaign activity was CSP's effort in building awareness of the importance of the cocoa sector in Indonesia which supports smallholder cocoa farmers. This campaign was supported by Mondelēz International and is planned to be carried out in stages by CSP in several activities related to cocoa sustainability issues in Indonesia. (CSP/AV)