HELPING COCOA TO BOUNCE BACK

SPEAKING at the opening ceremony of the Cocoa Crop Operator Association's Annual General Meeting recently the Chairman of the Malaysian Cocoa Board (MCB), Datuk Siringan Gubat disclosed that the federal government has an incentive package under the New Cocoa Plantation Program to encourage cocoa cultivation in the country.

He said in Sabah 655 hectares have been earmarked for cultivation in three areas in 2013, namely, 205 hectares in Ranau, 200 hectares in Tenom, 150 hectares in parts of the West Coast areas and 100 hectares in Tawau.

"This is one of the Government's initiatives to ensure the success of cocoa, which is a primary resource for value-added downstream processing in the manufacturing sector.

Earlier, the programme had an area of 750 hectares covered by the programme, comprising 300 hectares in Ranau, 200 hectares in Tenom, 150 hectares in the PBU and 100 hectares in Tawau.

With a provision of RM17.8 million the new planting programme provides RM8,000 per hectare worth of funding for a one-year duration. The incentives are handed out to participants under the new crop program. Each incentive is in the form of 1000 cocoa seedlings (per hectare), fertilizer, agricultural inputs such as disease & pest control, cocoa planting courses and plantation maintenance incentives, he said.

"I hope that cocoa farmers will continue to take advantage of the attractive incentives and make use of the technology provided to increase their cocoa productivity and their income," he said.

In the meantime, to ensure that the needs of the existing cocoa farmers are taken care of, the Government will continue to assist them through the Cocoa Rehabilitation Programme under the 2nd Rolling plan in 2012, Siringan told the gathering.

"This programme emphasizes increasing productivity through the development and application of the latest cocoa growing techniques and practices," he said, adding that among the activities carried out under this program include agricultural assistance to farmers such as fertilizer, pesticides, agricultural equipment and advanced technology courses.

In addition to the New Cocoa Plantation program, Siringan said that another programme conducted by the Malaysian Cocoa Board in an effort to promote cocoa plantation is the "Cocoa for the People (KUR) Programme".

The programme which began in 2009, provides an opportunity for the people to plant cocoa on any suitable piece of land available.

He expressed confidence that cocoa smallholders will have no difficulty selling their cocoa beans, as with the help of the Domestic Marketing Support Services Program, the MCB will buy cocoa beans from farmers based on quality and reasonable prices.

Quoting International Cocoa Organisation (ICCO) sources, Siringan said the price of cocoa beans is expected to rise to more than RM 12,000 per tonne in the near future, based on the assumption that the number of major cocoa producers in the world has gone down substantially, especially in Africa.

In the short term, he said there is a high demand for cocoa in conjunction with Christmas and New Year festivities.

However, Siringan points out that farmers should not be overly concerned about the price of cocoa in the world market, but should strive to improve cocoa production instead. (Insight Sabah)