Plantation Day 2017 was held on December 9-12th, 2017 at INSTIPER Yogyakarta Campus.
This 2017 Plantation Day is the 60th Plantation Day. The theme of the 2017 Indonesian Plantation Day is “Plantations as a Source of Prosperity and Nation Bonding” On this Plantation Day commemoration, an Indonesian Cocoa Talkshow was held with the theme “Increasing Cocoa Productivity Towards Farmer Welfare”. The Indonesian Cocoa Talkshow was held on December 9th, 2017 at the Central Laboratory of INSTIPER Yogyakarta Campus.
At this Plantation Day event, the Indonesian Cocoa Board presented assistance and awards to 4 (four) outstanding cocoa farmers and 3 (three) institutions engaged in the cocoa sector. The delivery of assistance and awards to 4 (four) outstanding farmers was handed over by Mr. Director General of Plantation to:
1. Paryanto
Chairman of Sarimulyo Farmer Group, Gambiran, Bunder, Patuk District, Gunung Kidul, Yogyakarta
2. I Made Sugandi
Subak Abian Dewi Mekar, Pohsanten Village, Jembrana District, Bali Province.
3. Thamrin Ihsan
Cocoa Farmer, Lampung Province.
4. Suwandi Cocoa Farmer, East Luwu District, South Sulawesi Province.
The award presentation to institutions engaged in the cocoa sector was carried out by the Deputy for Food and Agriculture Coordination, Coordinating Ministry for Economic Affairs and was given to:
- Ngupadi Koyo Farmer Group, Sawur, Tambakromo, Ponjong District, Gunung Kidul Regency, Yogyakarta.
- Kerta Semaya Samaniya Cooperative, Nusasari Village, Melaya District, Jembrana Regency, Bali Province.
- Kalimajari Foundation, Bali Province.
The assessment of outstanding farmers is based on good farm conditions, high productivity, good cocoa quality (fermentation), and advanced and good farmer institutions.
The Indonesian Cocoa Talkshow with the theme “Improving Cocoa Productivity Towards Farmer Welfare” was attended by around 65 participants.
The talk show was hosted by Mr. Zulhefi Sikumbang, Chairman of the Indonesian Cocoa Association, with the following resource persons:
- The Director General of Plantation was represented by the Head of Sub-Directorate of Refreshing Crops, Ir. H. Bagus Hudoro MSc. with the topic “Cocoa Development Policy to Accelerate the Increase of Cocoa Production”.
- Director of Indonesian Coffee and Cocoa Research Center represented by Head of Cocoa Research Center Dr. Agung Wahyu Susilo on the topic of “Implementation of Technology to Support the Acceleration of Cocoa Production Increase”.
- Chairman of the Indonesian Cocoa Board, with the topic “Synergy between Cocoa Stakeholders to Increase Productivity”.
- PT Mars Symbioscience, represented by Mr. Andi Amiruddin, on the topic of “Effective Farmer Assistance Methods to Increase Productivity”.
- Faculty of Agriculture, Hasanudin University, represented by Prof. Dr. Silvia Syam with the topic “The Role of Higher Education in Accelerating Cocoa Production Increases”.
- Cocoa Farmers represented by Yogyakarta Cocoa Farmer Paryanto, with the topic “Farmer Experience in Managing Good Kako Farms to Achieve High Productivity”…
The formulation of the Indonesian Cocoa Talkshow is a proposal from the Indonesian Cocoa Board to the government in an effort to accelerate the increase in national cocoa productivity and production and subsequently the formulation is submitted to the Director General of Plantations.