Media release: Indonesian cocoa growers benefit from Australian research partnership

Smallholder cocoa growers in Sulawesi, Indonesia, have the opportunity to boost their incomes and improve their family’s welfare by growing new pest-resistant, high-yielding cocoa varieties developed though an Australian and Indonesian research partnership.

Indonesia is the world’s third largest cocoa producer, with production worth more than AU$2 billion annually. Cocoa is the main income source for over a million Indonesian smallholder farm families, half of these living in Sulawesi.

However, the growers’ livelihoods are threatened because cocoa production is being cut by up to 50 per cent due to pest and disease incursion, ageing trees and declining soil fertility.

More information is available on the Cocoa feature page