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.