Sustainable Cocoa Production Program (SCPP): Analysis of cocoa beans processing and quality in post-harvest in South East Sulawesi in Indonesia

Abstract

Abstract— The production of cocoa, introduced in Indonesia during the 1980s, is now decreasing due to many different factors, among them decreased yields due to aging trees, the appearance of pests and diseases, and the farmers not being able to solve these problems due to their lack of knowledge. In 2012, Swisscontact implemented the Sustainable Cocoa Program (SCPP) to improve the competitiveness of the farmers in the cocoa value chain and to increase the productivity of cocoa beans on farm-level. The present study, conducted with the support of Swisscontact, is divided in two main different parts. The first part is a farmer analysis conducted in the district of Kolaka Timur to observe the effect of the SCPP and the UTZ certification on the agricultural practices and the post-harvest method on farm-level. Three different farmers’ groups were interviewed: 16 farmers involved in the SCPP and UTZ certified, 22 farmers involved in SCPP without any certification and 20 none-SCPP farmers. 32 women were interviewed as well to evaluate the gender equity in cocoa production. The second part of the study is an analysis of the quality of the cocoa beans by the different stakeholders of the value chain regarding the tools and the use of specific quality criteria. Eight local traders, six processing and trading companies and three associations involved in the cocoa sector were interviewed.The results in the first part show that the SCPP has an impact on the productivity of cocoa beans in the long term: the annual yield is significantly higher in the first group (UTZ-SCPP) and the agricultural practices are improved as well. The SCPP, with the creation of farmers’ cooperative, also increased the market access to the farmers. The second part shows that the tools and criteria used for analysing the quality of the cocoa beans are not the same in the value chain. Regarding the application of post-harvest practices, the study shows that the processing companies don’t have a real interest in buying fermented beans and they rather buy almost raw beans at a low price. The conclusion is that farmers involved in the SCPP have the possibility to produce a higher volume of cocoa beans but a market for fermented beans has to be created in order to add more value to the cocoa beans from Indonesia.

Keywords— Sustainable Cocoa Production Program (SCPP), quality analysis, fermentation, Indonesian cocoa value chain.