Zulhas Calls Kakao And Kelapa Commodities Management Will Be Carried Out By BPDPKS

JAKARTA - The government will hand over the management of cocoa and coconut commodities to the Palm Oil Plantation Fund Management Agency (BPDPKS).

The policy, according to Trade Minister Zulkifli Hasan, was decided in a limited meeting chaired by President Joko Widodo at the Presidential Palace, to respond to the decline in cocoa and coconut production, which has been produced from people's plantations.

"(Initially) it was proposed to create a (new) body, but it was finally decided that the body was merged with BPDPKS. It was combined there, plus one division, namely cocoa and coconut," Zulhas said quoting Antara.

The Minister of Trade said that the formation of special divisions for cocoa and coconut at BPDPKS was intended to assist in the implementation of nursery and research in the development of the two agricultural commodities.

"So (it is hoped) there will be cross subsidies for nursery, research, and all kinds of things regarding coconut and cocoa that will later be combined to BPDPKS," he said.

By joining the management of cocoa and coconut to BPDPKS, said Zulhas, exporters of the two products certainly do not need to pay additional contributions.

"So cocoa (if formed) its own body, it's impossible to collect it again. It's hard right. If the BPDPKS (there is) more than IDR 50 trillion. Yes, I said earlier, I proposed that it should not be added (the contribution)," said Zulhas.

The Central Statistics Agency (BPS) recorded the production of Indonesian cocoa beans of 641.7 thousand tons throughout 2023. This volume decreased 1.36 percent compared to the previous year (year-on-year/yoy).

Kakao Indonesia is mostly produced by provinces on the islands of Sulawesi and Sumatra.

In 2020, Indonesia will receive the title of the third largest cocoa producer in the world, after Ivory Coast and Ghana.