Cacao National Movement To Be Continued In West Sulawesi

Mamuju (ANTARA Sulbar) - The national program to improve the cacao bean quality and productivity will be continued in West Sulawesi until 2016, to make commodity the main income earner for the province.

Acting secretary of the provincial administration Nuralam Thahir said the government will set aside a budget for national movement pro cacao to improve the welfare of cacao growers.

Intensification and rehabilitation of cacao plantations would be expanded , Nuralim said here on Saturday.

He said the legislative body and the provincial government have agreed to continue the program to revitalize cacao plantations.

Earlier, West Sulawesi Governor Anwar Adnan Saleh said farmers whose cacao plantations included in the program succeeded in increasing their production and improve the quality of their beans.

Cacao farmers in the regency of Polman have asked the provincial administration to intensify the National Movement pro Cacao which was launched by the central government in 2008 .

The governor said revitalization of cacao plantation is planned not only in West Sulawesi but also all over Sulawesi.

Sulawesi is the main producer of cacao in Indonesia, which is the world`s third largest cacao producers after the Ivory Coast and Ghana in Africa.

The governor said there was no cause for concern among cacao farmers in the regency of Polman that the program would be stopped this year.

The regency of Polman received a contribution of Rp59.12 billion in 2011 to finance the program from the state budget.

Part of the fund was used for replanting over 3,000 hectares of cacao plantations in that district under the national movement pro cacao program.

The rest was used for revitalization of 5,200 hectares and intensification of 2,600 hectares of cacao plantations in that district.

Implementation of the program, therefore, covered around 10,000 hectares of cacao plantations in the regency of Polman that year.