Lampung to develop 11,000 hectares of cocoa to support downstream processing

Lampung Province is developing 11,000 hectares of cocoa plantations in 2026 as an effort to increase production in support of downstream processing of the commodity in the region. “Currently, the government is focusing on downstream processing of commodities, and one of them is cocoa, because Lampung Province is an area with considerable cocoa potential,” said Desti Arisandi, Head of the Lampung Provincial Plantation Office, in Bandarlampung on Thursday. She said that to maximise production in support of cocoa downstream processing, Lampung Province has received a cocoa commodity development programme. “The total cocoa development programme reaches 11,000 hectares, spread across several regencies,” she said. She explained that the 11,000-hectare cocoa development programme consists of cocoa replanting activities and expansion of cocoa planting areas. “For the cocoa expansion activities, there are 1,500 hectares in Mesuji Regency and 1,000 hectares in West Tulang Bawang Regency,” she said. She continued that the cocoa replanting activities are located in several regencies, such as Pesawaran, Pringsewu, Tanggamus, West Lampung, and West Tulang Bawang. “The hope is that through this cocoa development programme, production will increase and the downstream processing of Lampung cocoa can run well,” she added. It is known that Lampung Province has also received an allocation of plantation seedling assistance specifically for cocoa commodities from the Ministry of Agriculture covering 7,450 hectares per unit per group, with a total aid value of Rp9.88 billion. This consists of 6,350 hectares for replanting activities targeting South Lampung, Central Lampung, West Lampung, Tanggamus, East Lampung, Pesawaran, and Pringsewu regencies, and 1,100 hectares for planting expansion in Central Lampung and East Lampung regencies.