GIZ and CSP Assesses Cocoa GAP Training Modules for Smallholder Farmers and Extension Workers in Central Sulawesi
Central Sulawesi, 13 October 2022 - The large potential of the cocoa market in Indonesia is a good opportunity for cocoa farmers to improve their livelihoods. However, the number of cocoa farmers in Indonesia who maximize this potentiality is still low.
The cocoa sector in Indonesia is experiencing a decline in crop productivity due to aging trees, plant maintenance techniques, and plantation management.
Therefore, The Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH, and the Cocoa Sustainability Partnership (CSP) initiated efforts to support farmers through the Sustainability and Value Added in Agricultural Supply Chains in Indonesia (SASCI+) project. The project aimed to increase farmers' income, protect natural resources, and establish a deforestation-free supply chain.
The initiative, which started from July to October 2022, was targeted to assist 4,000 cocoa farmers in increasing yields and implementing sustainable cocoa farming practices.
As part of the SASCI+ project, Cocoa Farmer Training Management and Extension Workers Training was carried out in four sub-districts in Sigi District, Central Sulawesi Province. CSP and SASCI+ strategic partner worked together to achieve the initiative's objectives in Nokilalaki District, Palolo District, Kulawi District, and South Kulawi District. It was expected to be able to reach around 40 smallholder cocoa farmers, and 15 extension workers.
This initiative was also supported by the Plantation and Agriculture Office of Central Sulawesi Province, the Plantation and Agriculture Office of Sigi Regency, JB Cocoa, and Olam Food Ingredients (ofi).
CSP, who was accompanied by expert teams, conducted assessment to the training, had been or would be implemented, to the cocoa farmers in the strategic partners’ working area.
The series of activities in this review included collecting baseline data on the availability of cocoa GAP training modules, materials, and curriculum used by extension workers.
The baseline data collection also covered the type of training received by farmers, training providers, perceptions of training quality, targets, needs-oriented training, and farmer adoption rates.
One of the findings in the field showed that the farmer adoption rate of training materials was still relatively low. From the 40 farmers interviewed, only 7 people applied the previously received training materials. In general, the reasons for farmers not to apply this knowledge were the lack of access to finance and the lack of labour.
In the FGD, CSP together with expert teams also explored the challenges for extension workers when providing training to farmers. And the availability of training modules and GAP training curriculum in the field was an impacting issue.
“In establishing a good module and curriculum training, the suitability of training and its materials that are systematic and related with the needs of farmers must be a concern for the extension workers. This is done so that the GAP adoption rate of the farmers can be increased,” said Ismet Khaeruddin, GIZ staff in the Central Sulawesi Province, at a dissemination workshop to distribute the results of this study in Palu, Thursday, October 13, 2022. He also added that the involvement of women and youth in cocoa plantation practices also needed to be initiated to support efforts to increase cocoa productivity.
In general, this review recommended to extend the time of training delivery process, to involve women and youth in cocoa farming practices, and to provide support from other stakeholders. This joint effort must be built to support the progress of cocoa commodities in Central Sulawesi.
One of the interesting things, as follow-up plan of this review, was the need to strengthen the provision of techniques for delivering cocoa sustainable GAP training materials to extension workers. In addition, refresher training should also be implemented. As initial step, CSP had distributed the National Curriculum and Training Modules for Sustainable Cocoa Cultivation and Post-Harvest to the extension workers in the areas. The document itself was the government-approved document to be referred as the complete materials for sustainable cocoa training. (CSP/AV)