The opening workshop for the project was held in July 2007 and was attended by staff from Dinas Perkebunan, University of Hasanuddin and Mars Inc., farmer leaders and the project partners. The meeting provided an opportunity for presentations and group discussions addressing the key problems faced by cocoa smallholders. Visits made to farmer groups in South, South-East and West Sulawesi provinces during the year allowed project staff to explain the process of selecting and testing clones and its potential value in farm rehabilitation to farmers. Since many farmers wish to rehabilitate parts of their farms from seedling cocoa, trials were planned (under Objective 1) as part of a rehabilitation process on land cleared of unproductive trees by farmers. Six trials testing twelve clones in four replicate blocks have been established in the three provinces in the districts of Pinrang, North Luwu (Bone-bone), Polmas, North Kolaka and Kolaka (Lambandia, including one trial established by sidegrafting onto mature trees). One further trial is planned. Clones for testing were top-grafted onto rootstock seedlings in 2007 and, in early 2008, planted in trials at sites selected with the guidance of project staff from Mars Inc. Clones selected for the trials include genotypes with promising high-yielding or resistance characteristics identified by Mars Inc., a previous ACIAR project and local farmers. Two clones will be common to all the trials and act as standards. The project has initiated the establishment of a field facility for cocoa research in Soppeng, South Sulawesi on 5 hectares provided for field research by Dinas Perkebunan Selatan. This will form part of a cooperative effort under the Cocoa Sustainability Partnership (CSP), a forum of private and government agencies concerned with cocoa research and development in Sulawesi. A nursery and well with a pump have been constructed. The well will provide only some of the water needed for the ACIAR project trials. A further well will be required to provide sufficient water for the two trials planned at the site (Objective 2): to test hybrid progeny and selected clones against pests and diseases. Staff management, infra-structure requirements and organisational matters for the field centre were discussed in detail and responsibilities allocated. Hybrid crosses for the Soppeng trial site have already been made and seeds of some of these crosses produced. Also, trial sites have been marked out and temporary shade planted. But the establishment of the hybrid testing trial has been delayed by the higher-than-expected costs for preparing the site for planting. Approximately fifty genotypes for the clone testing trial at the Soppeng site have been grafted onto rootstock seedlings. A project staff member has commenced a PhD study at Gadjah Mada University (also part of Objective 2). The study will focus on forms of resistance in cocoa pods to cocoa pod borer. Meetings with farmer groups and extension officers established some priorities for research on options for pest/disease management (Objective 3). Feedback indicated that the major pest/disease concerns of farmers were Phytophthora pod rot and vascular-streak dieback. Demonstrations of cultural management methods (pruning, sanitation and fertiliser application) and phosphonate application were conducted in South-East Sulawesi. The phosphonate, to be tested against Phytophthora palmivora, is applied using slow-release implants placed in the stem and major branches. Further trials are planned for the coming year. In visits to farmer groups made by ICCRI, BRIEC and Australian project staff, feedback sessions were conducted in conjunction with practical training demonstrations. The basic design of a proposed cocoa management handbook relevant to Sulawesi farmers was discussed. However, to avoid confusing or conflicting advice it was decided that such educational material should be prepared in collaboration with other members of the CSP. The aims and methodology of a socio-economic study (for Objective 4) were discussed and farmer surveys were commenced in West and South Sulawesi. This study will be continued with surveys conducted at six monthly intervals in three provinces.

Evaluations of the cocoa trees in trials established in Polman, Kolaka, North Kolaka, North Luwu and Pinrang Districts, Sulawesi, each testing twelve cocoa clones, have commenced. These trials have provided data for individual clones on flowering and incidence of vascular-streak dieback (VSD), the most important disease affecting vegetative stages of cocoa. VSD has been identified as one of the most significant problems for farmers, many of whom wish to rehabilitate their farms with new cocoa clones or even change over to other crops as a result of the impact of this disease.

Australian project staff participated in a meeting hosted by a USAID funded project in Makassar (June 2008) to discuss the problem posed by the VSD epidemic. Further discussions on the nature of the VSD problem and possible management methods were held in a forum hosted by the Cocoa Sustainability Partnership (CSP). Project staff (Australian and Indonesian) also participated in a cocoa research conference hosted by the Indonesian Coffee and Cocoa Research Institute (ICCRI) and a workshop funded by the Australian government to initiate a new Indonesian government program aimed at revitalisation of cocoa farming in Sulawesi (GERNAS, Gerakan Nasional Percepatan Revitilisasi Kakao Sulawesi), both held in Bali in October/November 2008. The GERNAS workshop identified some major priorities requiring attention for optimal development of smallholder cocoa in Sulawesi and eastern Indonesia.

In field visits to VSD-affected areas in Java and Sulawesi, Australian project staff reassessed symptoms of VSD, which were found to differ from previous reports and descriptions. The reasons for these changed symptoms are unknown but could possibly be a result of declining nutrient status of the soil.

Progeny of ten hybrid crosses have been raised in the CSP (Cocoa Sustainability Partnership) nursery at Padali, Soppeng. A proportion of the seedlings obtained from seven crosses have been planted in the trial site in Padali and planting of the remaining seedlings is in progress. Temporary shade is provided by Moghania macrophylla and permanent shade trees have been planted. The establishment of the clone screening trial planned for the same location has been delayed due to failure of the grafted seedlings. More rootstock seedlings were prepared and they have been regrafted with more than seventy cocoa selections, including local Sulawesi selections. The clones will be transferred to the trial site in the next wet season.

Farmer group training sessions on cultural methods of pest and disease management were conducted by Indonesian Coffee and Cocoa Research Institute (and Biotechnology Research Institute for Estate Crops staff members accompanied by Australian project staff during two visits in 2008 and a further visit in 2009. Under the guidance of project staff members, management demonstration plots were established by a farmer group in North Luwu (adding to those established in Lambandia in the previous year). A trial was established in Bonebone to test three methods of phosphonate application on cocoa grafts infected with stem canker (caused by the pathogen Phytophthora palmivora). This builds upon a phosphonate trunk injection trial conducted by a previous ACIAR project, CP/2000/102, in Southeast Sulawesi that demonstrated effective control of canker using this method. Socioeconomic surveys to assess uptake among farmers of improved cocoa management techniques have been conducted in Polman and North Luwu with similar surveys planned for North Kolaka. Initial results of the surveys indicate a preference among farmers for labour-saving and high input technologies combined with a trend towards purchasing more land, rather than intensification of cocoa production on currently producing farms. This suggests that the main limitation to implementation of improved pest/disease control and general management methods is a labour shortage, and that highly labour-intensive management methods are unlikely to be adopted by farmers under the current socio-institutional settings of production.

Under a project variation, the project was extended with the inclusion of two new partner institutions in the provinces of Papua and West Papua. Project activities to be conducted in these provinces under the variation include farmer training using IPDM demonstration trials, transfer of cocoa management technologies to locally based government staff and the initiation of clone selection and testing. A five-day workshop with twenty one participants was held in Jayapura, Papua in February 2010. Four cocoa research specialists were invited from Papua New Guinea (PNG) to exchange knowledge with their Indonesian counterparts and to conduct training of local project staff, with local farmers participating in the field training activities. Based on a model developed by a previous ACIAR project in PNG, adjacent plots were established on a cocoa farm in Alang-Alang (in a Wamena migrant area) to demonstrate the effect of different levels of input of labour and materials (such as fertiliser or compost) on production. The workshop included training on other techniques, such as grafting and nursery management. Similar demonstration plots were established the following month in Mandopi, West Papua, with the participation of staff at the University of Papua and of a local Arfak farmer group. This site also provided a focus for training 25 extension agronomists for the cocoa module of an International Fund of Agricultural Development (IFAD)/Antara sponsored program conducted by the University of Papua (April -June 2010). The module includes training on sanitation methods, sidegrafting and the preparation of compost with microbial promoters. Suitable sites on farms have been identified in Papua and West Papua to establish clone testing trials.
In Sulawesi, project staff from Australia and Indonesian partner institutions conducted field training for farmers in July and November 2009 at two of the multi-location clone trial sites. Assessments of pods for pest and disease incidence and severity, yield and bean characteristics as well as flowering and diseases of vegetative plant parts are being conducted at four of the trial sites. The latest harvest season has demonstrated striking differences in yield and resistance between clones. Some clones selected in the program in collaboration with Mars Inc., a co-leader in the ACIAR project, have shown outstanding potential for improved yield and disease resistance and are being keenly sought by farmers.
At the Cocoa Sustainability Partnership field site in Soppeng, most of the hybrid cocoa plants and shade trees were destroyed by a wildfire in August 2009. The nursery was also damaged beyond repair. However, one block in the hybrid plant trial escaped the worst of the damage. Further hybrid screening will be conducted initially in East Java before testing with farmers in Sulawesi. Shade seedlings are being raised in a temporary box nursery to replace the trees burnt by the fire. A total of 600 grafted seedlings of five promising clones were planted in March 2010 for testing at the site. The management of this site has been clarified and it appears still worthwhile to promote this site as a cocoa experimental station in the region.
Links between the project and the Cocoa Research Group at Hasanuddin University were strengthened over the last year. Some third year students were encouraged to undertake their Scripsi Project studies at ACIAR trial sites: one of these showed that basic management techniques (e.g. pruning) increased flowering and decreased the incidence of vascular-streak dieback (VSD) on a farm in Pinrang, and a second study in progress is focusing on patterns of symptom development in VSD-infected shoots. A trial was established in March 2010 with a farmer group in Luwu, South Sulawesi using 800 mature side-grafted cocoa to test the effect of composted cocoa waste material and inorganic fertiliser on yield and pests and diseases; the first monthly evaluation has been completed. Socio-economic surveys of 600 households in Sulawesi have been completed and the data are being analysed as part of an ACIAR-supported PhD study at the University of Sydney. The study has been updated to incorporate an assessment of the GERNAS program, recently introduced by the national government to rejuvenate cocoa production in eastern Indonesia. The PhD thesis of the cocoa breeder who has been a joint leader of our project was completed and passed at Gadjah Madah University in April 2010; the thesis was based on a project on resistance of cocoa to Cocoa Pod Borer supported by the ACIAR Project. Two farmer handbooks have been published and copies distributed. The Project leader gave the McAlpine lecture to the Australasian Plant Pathology Society meeting in Newcastle, September 2009. A number of presentations were made by project staff to the 16th International Cocoa Research Conference, Bali, November 2009 and to the Cocoa Research Unit at The University of the West Indies.

In July 2010, project staff visited project partners in Jayapura (Papua) and Manokwari (West Papua). The Integrated Pest and Disease Management (IPDM) plots, established in Alang-Alang, Papua in February 2010, have continued to be maintained by Mars Inc. field clinic staff. Project staff met with a farmer group in Sentani who expressed enthusiasm for collaborating with the project through BPTP Papua to establish similar IPDM demonstrations of different options in regard to labour and material inputs. Both of the farmer groups and their activities were monitored initially by BPTP Papua but this was interrupted due to the high costs of transportation in Papua. A workshop hosted by the University of Papua to initiate activities in Papua and West Papua under the SMAR/2005/074 extension, was held in Manokwari, with almost all of the project staff attending. Following the workshop, training that targetted farmers, Dinas Perkebunan and local project staff was conducted at the Mandopi IPDM sites by project staff. Third year university students who were using this site for their final year project studies also attended the workshop. The training covered tree management, preparation of compost with microbial promoters including the use of trenches in between tree rows and sanitation to reduce black pod and cocoa pod borer. The Mandopi IPDM plots has also provided a focus for the practical training component of the International Fund of Agricultural Development (IFAD)- and AusAid-sponsered training program for the development of commodities, including cocoa, in rural communities. A clone trial with five clones introduced from Sulawesi and Java grafted onto unproductive trees was established on another farm in Mandopi. This area is prone to flooding, which has been particularly severe in the last 12 months due to higher than usual rainfall, and consequently mortality of the grafts has been high. However, more than fifty grafts of nearly a metre in length had established by May 2011. Five clones have also been topgrafted onto seedlings and will be planted at a location (to be selected) of a higher altitude than Mandopi. A survey of cocoa farmers as part of the socioeconomic objective of the project was initiated in West Papua in cooperation with two BPTP Sulsel staff, who have been conducting similar surveys in Sulawesi. This study aims to elucidate some of the particular issues facing cocoa growers in West Papua, including the central role of social structure. In October 2010, ACIAR held an inter-project meeting in Bali to identify and discuss some of the issues affecting ACIAR projects in Papua. Three project personnel from West Papua and the project coordinator attended the meeting. In Sulawesi, pods in the four clone testing trial sites (three years after planting) have been monitored each fortnight. The results indicate the importance of using a mix of clones on farms, and that testing clone performance locally is essential. In the Polman trial for example, about 30 trees for each of 10 clones produced 153 to 742 pods over the last year. The lowest incidences of cocoa pod borer (CPB) occurred in BR25 and HusbiTori with 8.8 and 9.4 % pods infested, respectively. These clones also produced the highest proportion of healthy (non-infected) pods. However, these clones were susceptible to vascular-streak dieback (VSD), while the clone with the highest level of VSD-resistance (Geni J), was the most susceptible to CPB, with 60.2% pods infested over the year. Phytophthora pod rot (PPR) infection rates were highest in PBC123 and M01 at 24.1% and 23.8%, respectively. These results suggest that resistance traits for CPB, PPR and VSD in these clones are not linked. The recent change occurring in characteristic symptoms of VSD on Indonesian farms and the current research addressing this was presented by the project leader to the 2011 Australasian Plant Pathology Society meeting in Darwin.