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)