US offers sweet deal to help Indonesia produce more cocoa

Jakarta (ANTARA News) - The United States on Wednesday announced a training programme to help Indonesian farmers battle cocoa bean-eating pests and boost exports to one of America's largest chocolate manufacturers.

Indonesia is the world's third largest cocoa producer, after Ivory Coast and Ghana.

The US Agency for International Development has facilitated an agreement between Blommer Chocolate Co. and supplier PT Olam Indonesia to train farmers on Sulawesi island to improve productivity and tackle the cocoa pod borer, the US embassy was quoted by AFP as saying in a statement.

The moth-like pest lays its larvae in cocoa pods, reducing yields by up to 60 percent and leaving the farmer with a poor quality crop.

Sulawesi's farmers lost 127 million dollars last year due to the ravages of the pest, the embassy said.

The training programme would also help them to improve productivity and quality by 30 percent, enabling them to increase production by 35,000 tonnes a year, it said.

Blommer has agreed to buy premium quality beans at above market value.

The US imported 136,000 tonnes of cocoa from Indonesia in 2005, with American chocolate manufacturers buying about 40 percent of Sulawesi's cocoa butter exports, the embassy said.