Growing cocoa has become a bittersweet experience for Indonesian farmers while output is up, profits are diluted by rising production costs and an endless battle against pod borer pests. Farmers also admit to a growing fear that the country's main buyer, the United States, will turn its back on the world's third-largest producer because of persistent problems with quality. "The States has seen in the last few years that the bean quality is not so great.
Now, they think they can get better quality and better-valued African beans," said one dealer at an international trading house in Singapore. Indeed, shipments from Makassar port on the main growing island of Sulawesi to the United States fell more than 80 percent to 1,400 tonnes in February from January after an annual increase in 2004, according to the Sulawesi chapter of the Indonesian Cocoa Association.
Farmers have expanded their crops in an attempt to boost incomes. The Indonesian Cocoa Association expects output to rise four percent to 390,000 tonnes this year from an estimated 375,000 tonnes in 2004.
But because of low quality, Indonesian beans are sold at a discount of more than $200 a tonne to New York prices. Cocoa beans are sold to grinders, which processes them for the making of chocolate, beverages and ice cream.
Farm incomes are eroded further by the sharp increase in domestic fuel prices and the costs of fighting pests that eat crops.
The pod borer the worm-like creatures that eat cocoa beans have been present in Sulawesi since the 1980s but only became a menace in 1999. While it is difficult to eliminate the pod borer, industry officials say the spread could be minimised if farmers took well care of their crops.
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