Cocoa in Southeast Asia

Entry: Bill Guyton, World Cocoa Foundation For the past week, I have been traveling in Asia. My trip started in Tokyo with visits to our Japanese member companies. From there, I flew to Indonesia to attend the 16th Cocoa Producers' Alliance (COPAL) International Cocoa Research Conference (ICRC). The event was co-hosted with the Indonesian Coffee and Cocoa Research Institute (ICCRI). This has been a great venue for a cocoa research conference. As many of the readers know, Indonesia is the third largest producer of cocoa, behind Cote d'Ivoire and Ghana. The majority of the farms are located on the island of the Sulawesi. Similar to West Africa, cocoa farming is a family business, typically on land holdings less than five to ten acres. Through applied research and farmer outreach, there are opportunities to improve the cocoa yields and incomes of these farmers. The last ICRC meeting was held in Costa Rica three years ago, so this was a good opportunity for me to learn about some of the latest findings from the meeting participants, many who are leading scientists in their countries. Over the past few days, we have heard presentations on cocoa genetics, molecular biology, agroforestry, soil nutrition, and crop protection. For a non-scientist, the sessions on genetic and molecular biology were challenging at times to follow, but the work is helping our understanding of quality and productivity improvements to benefit cocoa farmers and the value chain. Of particular interest to me were the presentations of the positive role cocoa trees can play in carbon sequestration. I was pleased that two of the USDA Cocoa Borlaug Fellows from Indonesia and the Philippines were able to participate in the meetings along with many of our other partners from the NGO, cocoa research and private sector communities. Tracey Duffey, World Cocoa Foundation Program Director, arrives at the Indonesian Conference today. From here, I will fly to Vietnam to visit cocoa program sites. I will be traveling with our important partners from the Vietnamese Cocoa Committee, Nong Lam University, and local institutions. I would like to personally thank Sona Ebai, Director General of COPAL and our colleagues at ICCRI for their leadership in organizing the Indonesian conference. My next blog entry will cover highlights from Vietnam.