RI cocoa farmers ready to boost crop<\/p>\n
ABIDJAN (Reuters): Indonesia's cocoa farmers are ready to
\nincrease their crop to over 500,000 tons in spite of low world
\nprices and poor spraying against diseases, a leading cocoa
\nresearcher said on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
\"The (government) objective of 500,000 tons or more is very
\nrealistic in spite of the havoc wreaked by the pod borer and in
\nspite of the slump in cocoa prices,\" French researcher Francois
\nRuf told Reuters in an interview on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
Due to low world prices farmers currently put less work and
\nless pesticides into their farms, leading to an increased
\noccurrence of the cocoa pod borer, a tiny moth whose larvae bore
\nthrough the husk into the pulp, affecting bean development.<\/p>\n
Indonesia, the world's third largest cocoa producer after
\nIvory Coast and Ghana, produced 362,000 tons of cocoa in 2000
\n(Jan-Dec).<\/p>\n
\"It is difficult to calculate when it (the increase) is going
\nto happen but on (Indonesia's main cocoa producing island of)
\nSulawesi the output is going to go up,\" said Ruf, who is based in
\nIvory Coast's main city Abidjan.<\/p>\n
He said that in 1998 large numbers of farmers moved deep into
\nthe forest of Sulawesi, formerly called Celebes, and started
\nclearing land. The run on land was a result of a spectacular rise
\nin the cocoa farmgate price.<\/p>\n
In 1998 prices jumped from Rp 2,500 to Rp 17,000 per kg due to
\nthe collapse of the local currency, which depreciated by 500
\npercent against the dollar.<\/p>\n
Not all farmers immediately planted cocoa on their newly
\ncleared land due to ownership conflicts and a preference for
\nplanting pepper, Ruf said.<\/p>\n
He said pepper was popular partly because its farmgate price
\nhad multiplied by six during the 1998 currency crisis.<\/p>\n
\"But I am sure that in the end cocoa is going to win (over
\npepper),\" he said.<\/p>\n
In the book co-edited by Ruf \"Agriculture in Crisis\", on
\ndevelopments in Indonesia's agricultural sector from 1996 to
\n2000, the French economist and his co-authors say they believe
\nIndonesia is close to becoming the world's second-largest cocoa
\nproducer.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/ri-cocoa-farmers-ready-to-boost-crop-1447893297",
"image": ""
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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