Metrotvnews.com: The International Cocoa Council (ICCO) supports Indonesia’s national cocoa movement (gernas). This gernas serves to increase production due to a global cocoa supply shortage of 45 thousand tons in 2012/2013.
ICCO Executive Director Jean-Marc Anga said that the problem faced by producing countries is the low productivity of cocoa plants. This has led to a supply that has not been able to meet demand. “If you look at the demand and supply side, there is a global cocoa supply deficit of 45 thousand tons in 2012/2013. We support producing countries that continue to strengthen cocoa cultivation,” said Anga after the opening of the 87th Meeting of the International Cocoa Council, Monday (18/3), in Denpasar, Bali.
Anga said that consumers currently favor chocolate products with cocoa content of 80%-90%. In fact, he continued, about 10-15 years ago, consumers liked chocolate with only 30%-35% cocoa content. “This means that there is a demand from consumers for a large supply of cocoa and this is a very promising prospect. In the future, we are optimistic that the cocoa market will get bigger,” said Anga.
Minister of Agriculture Suswono said Indonesia as the third largest cocoa producer in the world continues to promote Gernas Cocoa to increase production in order to shift Ivory Coast and Ghana which occupy the position as the world’s first and second largest cocoa producers. “In this gernas there is rejuvenation and increasing productivity with good maintenance such as managing cultivation and fertilization to increase yields,” he explained after opening the 87th Meeting of the International Cocoa Council, Monday (18/3), in Denpasar, Bali.
Suswono revealed, this rejuvenation is in the form of replacing cocoa trees that are no longer productive. This rejuvenation has been done since 2009 so that, said Suswono, this year will harvest and increase production to 1 million tons from the previous 2012 production of 833,310 tons or an increase of 17% from 2011 production of 712,231 tons.
Meanwhile, Suswono continued, to increase productivity, in Gernas Cocoa, cultivation is also carried out by side grafting and shoot grafting, as well as good fertilization. “Hopefully, productivity will increase,” Suswono said.
Suswono said that productivity currently only reaches 700-800 kilograms per hectare. In fact, Indonesia has the potential to increase to 1.5 tons per hectare, beating Ivory Coast which is only 1.4 tons per hectare. According to Suswono, Ivory Coast cannot increase its productivity anymore and this is an opportunity for Indonesia to shift Ivory Coast’s position as the number one producer in the world. Suswono also set a productivity target of 1.5 tons per hectare in 2016.
Suswono added that with the implementation of the 5% export duty on cocoa beans, the industry has started to work on downstream cocoa products. In the future, he hopes, Indonesia can also produce cocoa end products such as chocolate. In addition, Indonesia will also implement cocoa certification that can convince consumers of the sustainability of Indonesian cocoa. (Bunga Pertiwi Adek Putri)
Editor: Rina Garmina
