SE Sulawesi to be main base for cocoa exports

SE Sulawesi to be main base for cocoa exports

JAKARTA (JP): The Indonesian Cocoa Association (Askindo) wants
Southeast Sulawesi, a major cocoa producer to become a main base
for cocoa exports, an association staff member said .

The head of the province's chapter of the Indonesian Cocoa
Association, M. Syifried Wahab, said Thursday although Southeast
Sulawesi was known as the cocoa center of production, the
province often exported the commodity through other provinces.

The situation happened because the trade in cocoa in the
province was dominated by exporters from other provinces.

The small number of cocoa traders in the province also export
the commodity through other provinces.

"This practice is not good for the process of development in
the province," he was quoted by Antara as saying in the
province's capital of Kendari.

With 70,000 hectares of cocoa estates, 95 percent of which
were owned by smallholders, the province produced an average
50,000 tons of cocoa yearly or about 25 percent of the national
annual production of 200,000 tons, he said.

He said PT Perkebunan Ladongi was among the few companies in
Southeast Sulawesi which directly exported cocoa from the
province. The owner of 6,000 hectares of cocoa plantation shipped
about 200 tons of cocoa yearly to Australia.

Syifried said the government needed to improve the province's
infrastructure in order to attract traders to export cocoa from
the province.

He said the association would run programs to improve the
quality of cocoa produced in the province.

Farmers would be encouraged to produce good quality cocoa with
the promise of higher prices, he said. (jsk)