by Tanjung Rejo, Indonesia (AP) – The loud crazy of a chainsaw sounds through the forest, while a small group of farmers gathered around a tree with red seed shells. With a slow stroke, a separated Knobby branch hits the floor.
“Now it will help the tree to grow new fruits,” says Farmer Tari Santoso with a smile.
Thousands of cocoa farmers across Indonesia such as Santoso work with companies and other organizations to protect their harvest from the bitter effects of climate change and the sub -investment that have postponed cocoa prices to record prices.
Cocoa trees are high maintenance: only near the equator are they require a precise combination of steady temperatures, moisture and sunlight. It takes five years for a tree to start producing the seeds that are processed in cocoa to produce chocolate and other delicious food.
Climate change increases the risks for farmers: the hotter weather harms the yields and longer rainy seasons triggers the spread of mushrooms and fatal pests. In increasingly unpredictable weather patterns, farmers have made it more difficult for farmers to move with these challenges.
So farmers switch to other plants, reduce the cocoa supplies and push the prices higher: in 2024 the prices almost tripled, reached around 12,000 US dollars per ton, drive the chocolate costs and lead some chocolate manufacturers to expand into the Labories Kocao.
Indonesia is the third largest cocoa producer in the world, behind Cote D’Ivoire and Ghana, according to the organization of the United Nations food and agriculture, farmers are joining companies and non-governmental organizations to develop better growing practices and to improve their living.
The farmer Santoso, who in the shadow of his forest farm in the south -Sumatra, 3 miles (5 kilometers) from a national park in which Sumatran Tigers and Nashorn Roam Roam is removed, works with the Indonesian chocolate manufacturer Krakakoa.
After working with the company in 2016, Santoso began to use practices that helped his cocoa trees to flourish, regularly cut and transplant new branches to older trees in order to promote growth and prevent the spread of diseases. It uses organic fertilizers and has used agroforst techniques, whereby other cultures and trees such as bananas, dragon fruits, coffee and pepper are integrated into its farm to promote a healthier ecosystem and to invest in other sources of income.
“It wasn’t very successful until we met Krakakoa,” said Santoso. “But then we received training … things are much better.”
According to his founder and CEO Sabrina Mustopo, Krakakoa trained more than 1,000 cocoa farmers in Indonesia. The company also offers financial support.
Santoso and other farmers in Sumatra said that the partnership helped them to form a cooperative that provides farmers with low interest, with interest rates were paid back to the cooperative rather than on banks outside the community.
Cocoa farmers who need larger loans from state banks also benefit from the partnership with companies, since the guaranteed buyer agreements can provide collateral for approval of loans, said Armin Hari, communication manager at Cocoa Sustainability Partnership, a forum for public-private cooperation for the development of cocoa development in Indonesia in Indonesia.
Dozens of other companies, the government and non -governmental organizations and cooperatives also work with cocoa farmers to better deal with climate change and benefit thousands, said Hari. He pointed out a collaboration between the Indonesian National Research and Innovation Agency and the local department of the international chocolate manufacturer Mars, which has published a new variant of cocoa that produces more pods per tree.
The challenges still remain, said Rajendra Aryal, the country director of the FAO for Indonesia. Fewer people see cocoa cultivation as lucrative business and plants instead other plants such as palm oil. And many small farmers still cannot get loans, he said.
But Aryal said he hoped that continued cooperation between farmers and others would help.
“If we can look at the main problems that these (farmers) are confronted … I think this sector could be very attractive for farmers again,” he said. “Despite the challenges in Indonesia, I see that there are opportunities.”
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