"Cocoa is a very important commodity of the farmers in West Sulawesi, and has contributed a great deal to the welfare of the farmers," Governor Anwar Adnan Saleh said in Mamuju Friday.
He said some 72 pct of the national cocoa output came from Sulawesi and 24 pct of which from West Sulawesi.
Therefore, he pointed out, cacao in West Sulawesi needs the constant attention from the central government so that the commodity could be developed constantly.
"Financial support to raising cacao should be constantly be given by the central government for the development of the commodity on a regular basis," he said.
He said cacao needs to be regularly be developed to increase the national cacao production to make Indonesia and the world's number one cacao producer and exporter.
"To achieve this aim, banking circles are also expected to contribute to the growers to boost their production," he said. (H-NG/a014)