TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Red pods hang from cocoa trees on a small patch of land in Tompobulu Subdistrict, Bantaeng Regency, South Sulawesi. They belong to Burhani, 39, who travels the short distance from his home to the cocoa farm, where hundreds of his trees stand. "I prune the branches, fertilize the soil and check for any pests or diseases," he told Tempo English.
Burhani is eagerly awaiting the next harvest of the year-long bean, which has quickly become his most lucrative crop.
Last year, after being forced to work in Jakarta for a year, he was frustrated by his siblings' comparative lack of skill tending the trees. They managed to harvest just 300 kilograms of cocoa. "After I returned to Bantaeng, I started to improve the farm. Some 500 trees are now too old to bear fruit," he said.
Burhani decided to plant 1,000 new cocoa seedlings. His hope is that in a few years, the trees will start producing higher yields. This year, he expects to harvest more than 500 kilograms.
Nurman, another farmer in the area, began working full-time as a cocoa farmer back in 2010. Before that, he worked as a driver.
He learned about cocoa farming after a chocolate firm and Hasanuddin University held joint training sessions in the area in 2010. "It was like going back to elementary school, I had to learn everything from scratch," the 43-year-old said.
At the end of 2012, Nurman and Burhani received additional training from the Rainforest Alliance, a non-governmental organization (NGO) working to ensure biodiversity and sustainable livelihoods. They learned to make fertilizer from cocoa husks and a grafting technique to yield more fruits.
Several area farmers in fact owned cocoa trees but did not know how to properly tend to them. Whenever pests or disease struck, production plummeted.
Nurman now owns 1,000 cocoa trees spread over three farms. Last year, he managed to harvest about 1.5 tons of cocoa. "This is an increase in comparison to two years ago," he said, adding that a steady rise in prices gave him extra motivation to farm.
Farmers in Bantaeng Regency have been able to increase their per-kilogram selling price from Rp20,000-25,000 to Rp35,000-the price offered by middlemen-in recent years. The Rainforest Alliance helped by eliminating such middlemen. "We never earned so much from cocoa before," Nurman said. "Now we earn enough to support our family." (*)
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