Alfitria Nefi P, Jakarta – Indonesia's Ministry of Agriculture has stated that the productivity of local cocoa plantations has declined in the past year. "Our productivity has indeed decreased in the past year," said the Head of the Cocoa and Other Seasonal Crop Working Group at the Ministry of Agriculture, Yakub Ginting, in Pullman, Jakarta, on Thursday, October 23, 2025.
According to Yakub, the decline is triggered by many farmers switching the use of their land to food commodities such as palm oil. He mentioned that food crops provide a faster income.
As a result, he stated that this transition has reduced the number of farmers involved in cocoa plantations. In addition to the number of farmers, Yakub also stated that the area of cocoa plantations has started to decrease.
Yakub explained that the shift in cultivation is due to problems with the selling price of cocoa beans. "In the past few years before now, the price of cocoa has not been very attractive," he said.
Yakub stated that the domestic demand for cocoa continues to be supported by imports. The imported commodity is fermented cocoa for industrial purposes. He mentioned that the trend of cocoa imports has been increasing over the past five years. "We have imported a staggering 340,000 tons," said Yakub.
In response to the reality of import dependency and the decline in cocoa productivity, Yakub stated that the Ministry of Agriculture is pushing for the rejuvenation of plants and the expansion of land.
He stated that in 2025, the Ministry of Agriculture has a budget for a plant rejuvenation program covering an area of 3,800 hectares and land expansion covering 650 hectares. Additionally, the ministry received additional spending (ASB) to manage 4,266 hectares of land in 2025.
Meanwhile, in 2026, Yakub stated that the Ministry of Agriculture will rejuvenate 175,000 hectares of cocoa land. The Ministry of Agriculture aims to rejuvenate 68,734 hectares of land by 2027.
Currently, Yakub stated that Indonesia has 1.3 million hectares of cocoa land. The total area consists of 890,000 hectares of productive land, while the remaining 290,000 hectares are damaged. Additionally, 212,000 hectares of land have not yet produced any crops. Currently, the total number of cocoa farmers is 1.5 million.
Yakub explained that 60 percent of the region's cocoa production comes from four provinces in Sulawesi: Central Sulawesi, Southeast Sulawesi, South Sulawesi, and West Sulawesi. The rest is scattered in Aceh, North Sumatra, Lampung, Sumba, East Nusa Tenggara, and East Java.