In order to develop national cocoa, the National Cocoa Production and Quality Improvement Movement program has been established. The main activities of the program are Rejuvenation of damaged cocoa plantations, Rehabilitation of poor plantations, and Intensification of less productive plantations. Procedure for Providing Supply Guarantee Documents in the Framework of Providing Somatic Embryo Genesis cocoa planlets in 2011. Rejuvenation activities are directed to severely damaged plantation status characterized by old plants (> 25 years old), heavily attacked by major pests, population less than 300 trees/ha, and productivity less than 500 kg/ha, while still meeting the requirements of land suitability for cocoa.
Rejuvenation activities have been established using superior clonal planting materials that are resistant to major diseases, especially Vascular Streak Dieback (VSD) which has infected and damaged most cocoa plantations. The provision of superior clonal cocoa planting material can be done by the method of cuttings, grafting seedlings from seeds with superior clonal entries (shoot grafting or bud patch/side grafting), and by the more recent method of somatic embryogenesis (SE) technique. There are two kinds of plant tissue culture processes, namely through organogenesis or embryogenesis. The main feature of the SE process is the formation of mass structures/bipolar structures from somatic explants that eventually form sprouts with root and leaf growth points at each end simultaneously. Whereas the organogenesis process is characterized by the formation of a unipolar structure, which is only the formation of leaf or root growth points separately. Because the process is similar to seed development, clonal plants produced by the SE technique are morphologically/architecturally very similar to plants from seeds, while plants from the organogenesis process are similar to plants from cuttings. Cocoa plants from SE propagation are characterized by the formation of taproots, the presence of a jorket structure, and the same genetic characteristics as the parent explant source (homogeneous). For this reason, the planting material that is propagated using the SE technique determines the characteristics of the propagation result. In the SE propagation program, superior cocoa clones such as ICCRI 03, ICCRI 04, Sca 6, Sul 1, and Sul 2 will be used. These clones have high yields (above 2 tons per ha) and are resistant or tolerant to major cocoa diseases, especially Vascular Streak Dieback (VSD). The Indonesian Coffee and Cocoa Research Center propagates superior cocoa planting material using SE technology that has been developed by the Nestle Research Center-Tours-France. The technology that has been developed has been studied for a long time so that it is considered feasible to be applied on a mass scale. The results of the propagation of superior cocoa clones using SE technique have proven to be normal (true type) and can bear fruit as in normal plants in general. From experience in other countries (Equador) it has been proven that cocoa plants from SE propagation have higher productivity, plant vigor is more vigorous (jagur) than plants propagated by cuttings, grafting, or from seeds. Trials at the Coffee and Cocoa Research Center also showed the same results, propagation of superior cocoa clones using SE technology can produce normally as the use of other clonal propagation methods. The distribution pattern of cocoa plant material propagated by SE technique is carried out in stages, the Indonesian Coffee and Cocoa Research Center will only produce plantlets (small plants) after acclimatization (already adapted to the external environment). Plantlets are distributed to seedling breeders in the regions (in the form of shreds) and then the seedling breeders do the nursery at the planting site. This makes distribution easier and cheaper. To maintain quality, all distributed plantlets and ready-to-plant seedlings made by breeders will be certified by an authorized institution, namely the Center for Seedling and Plantation Plant Protection (BBP2TP).
