Indonesian Cocoa Day 2023 or the 11th Indonesian Cocoa Day was held in Bali with the theme “Building Added Value of Indonesian Cocoa through Specific Excellence of Indonesian Origin Cocoa and Chocolate”.
Activities of Indonesian Cocoa Day 2023
The commemoration of IPR 2023 was organized by the Indonesian Cocoa Board in collaboration with the Coordinating Ministry for Economic Affairs and the Ministry of Industry, and was carried out in two activities:
- September 14th, 2023, Cocoa Dinner HKI 2023 at Summer Garden, The Westin Hotel Nusa Dua Bali.
- September 16th, Cocoa Field Meeting at the Merta Abadi Farmer Group Cocoa Farm in Eka Sari Village, Melaya District, Jembrana Regency.
Commemoration of Indonesian Cocoa Day 2023, September 14, 2023 at The Summer Garden, The Westin Hotel Nusa Dua Bali
At this event has given a speech namely:
- Chairman of the Indonesian Cocoa Board, Dr. Soetanto Abdoellah.
- Director General of Agro Industry of the Ministry of Industry, Ir. Putu Juli Ardika, MA
- Deputy for Food and Agribusiness Coordination of the Coordinating Ministry for Economic Affairs, Dr. Ir. Musdhalifah Machmud, MT
- Executive Director of ICCO, Michael Arrion.
In his remarks, the Deputy for Food and Agribusiness Coordination emphasized, among others:
- In terms of cocoa quality, Indonesian cocoa is not inferior to the world’s cocoa if fermented properly so as to produce flavors equivalent to cocoa from Ghana.
- Our cocoa production and productivity are declining while domestic and global needs continue to increase, so it is necessary for the role of all stakeholders to jointly develop and improve cocoa cultivation from the upstream side so as to produce quality and competitive cocoa in a sustainable manner.
- Inviting all parties from the central government, local government, private/industry and NGOs as well as the world community to collaborate and synergize to support each other to encourage increased productivity and quality for the advancement of Indonesian cocoa.
Director General of Agro Industry in his speech said among others:
- Indonesia has 11 intermediate cocoa processing industries with a capacity of 739,250 tons/year, 900 chocolate processing industries with a capacity of 462,126 tons/year and 31 artisan chocolate with a capacity of 1,242 tons/year. Currently, the utilization of the cocoa processing industry reaches 61%.
- The government through the Ministry of Industry will continue to encourage the downstreaming of artisan chocolate processing. The beans to bar artisan chocolate development program will begin with the formation of an association, which will be followed by various work programs including: Increasing human resources competition for chocolate makers, campaigns to increase domestic chocolate consumption, chocolate campaigns for health and lifestyle, national and international promotions/exhibitions, facilitation programs for retructuring machinery and equipment in order to improve technology and support for sustainability and traceability programs in the supply chain.
Indonesia Beans to Bar Chocolate Competition Winners Announced.
The Beans to Bar Chocolate Competition is a competition for Indonesian chocolate products that use cocoa beans grown from all over the archipelago. The cocoa beans used in Beans to Bar chocolate/artisan chocolate are premium quality Indonesian cocoa beans (fermented and have a high flavor and aroma).
The Beans to Bar / Artisan chocolate competition was attended by 16 participants from small industries / SMEs and the winner of the Beans to Bar Chocolate Competition was Raphio Chocolate (CV. Raphio Berkah Semesta).
Signing of Memorandum of Understanding between Kerta Semaya Samaniya Cooperative and PT. Raphio Berkah Semesta
The purpose of this MoU is to improve the quality of cocoa beans in several locations (locus) in Indonesia by conducting good cocoa farm maintenance and post-harvest processes so as to produce high quality fermented cocoa beans and can increase farmers’ income, regional and national revenues.
The scope of the MoU includes among others: production and post-harvest guidance; provision of refractometer measuring instruments; provision of fermentation boxes and solar drayers; provision of moisture content test equipment; testing of cocoa beans in the lab; purchase of fermented cocoa beans, customs duty exemption.
Launching of Artisan Chocolate Association / Beans to Bar Chocolate.
On this occasion, the Artisan Chocolate/Beans to Bar players declared the formation of the Artisan Chocolate Association which aims to improve the performance of Artisan Chocolate both in quality and quantity, increase markets both nationally and internationally and increase competitiveness.
Cocoa Field Meeting, September 16th, 2023 in Jembrana District.
The field meeting in Jembrana Regency was held at the cocoa farm of the Merta Abadi farmer group, Eka Sari village, Melaya sub-district, Jembrana Regency.
Present at this cocoa field meeting were:
- Regent of Jembrana, I NengahTamba, SH.
- Deputy for Food and Agribusiness Coordination, Dr. Ir. Musdhalifah Machmud, MT.
- Chairman of the Indonesian Cocoa Board, Dr. Soetanto AbdoellahDirector General of Plantations represented by Director of Annual and Seasonal Crops, . Muhammad Rizal Ismail, SP, M.Si
- Head of the Agricultural Quarantine Agency represented by the Coordinator of the Vegetable Biosafety Group, Center for Plant Quarantine and Vegetable Biosafety, Ir. Ihsan Nugroho, M. Sc.
The cocoa field meeting began with a farm visit, during the farm visit a symbolic planting of cocoa seedlings was carried out, harvesting cocoa fruit and continued by reviewing the cocoa bean drying unit and fermentation unit.
At this event has given speeches namely:
Regent of Jembrana, Chairman of the Indonesian Cocoa Board, Director General of Plantations represented by the Director of Annual and Semi-Annual Crops, Head of the Agricultural Quarantine Agency represented by the Coordinator of the Vegetable Biosafety Group, Plant Quarantine and Vegetable Biosafety Center, Deputy for Food and Agribusiness Coordination of the Coordinating Ministry for Economic Affairs.
The remarks delivered in the commemoration of HKI 2023 in Jembrana Regency, in essence, were;
- One of the leading commodities of Jembrana Regency is cocoa which has been able to penetrate the international market share with the brand/characteristics of “Organic Specific Aromatics”.
- Jembrana is the city of cocoa
- From Jembrana let us increase the glory of Indonesian cocoa again.
- From Jembrana cocoa for the World
- Jembrana agreed with the Province and Center that Ekasari Village will be developed into a cocoa superior commodity area based on farmer corporations in the future.
- How to solve problems such as export regulations, food safety and biosafety.
- The potential for cocoa exports in Jembrana is quite large both in quality and quantity.
- The Jembrana local government will encourage and strive to improve the quality of cocoa beans.
- To deal with problems and obstacles in cocoa exports, it is necessary to improve coordination with relevant agencies.
- Jembrana as a cocoa city must be realized up to the industry.
- Jembrana can be a model city for sustainable agriculture as a source of economy, existing natural resources must be preserved.
Handover of Cocoa Seedling Assistance
The handover of cocoa seedling assistance was given to :
- Merta Abadi Farmer Group, Jembrana Regency.
- Amerta Urip Farmer Group, Jembrana Regency.
- Cocoa Farmer Champion, Luwu Regency.
Signing of the Inscription Commemorating Indonesian Cocoa Day 2023.
Signing of the Inscription Commemorating Indonesian Cocoa Day 2023 was done by the Executive Director of ICCO (online), the Chairman of the Indonesian Cocoa Board and the Regent of Jembrana.
- Comparative Study of cocoa farmers from Luwu Regency to Jembrana Regency.
In order to commemorate Indonesian Cocoa Day 2023 and as one of the efforts to improve cocoa commodity management, the FOLUR Project through the Coordinating Ministry for Economic Affairs held a comparative study activity to the cocoa farm of Kerta Semaya Samaniya Cooperative together with extension workers and cocoa farmers from Luwu Regency, South Sulawesi province.
