Cocoa farmers in the Kerta Semaya Samaniya Cooperative (KSS), Jembrana, Bali recorded a total export of 12.5 tons of fermented cocoa beans throughout 2021. Production of these cocoa beans was exported to several European countries, namely Belgium and the Netherlands, Japan, and the United States. Meanwhile, the distinctive aroma of cocoa beans is one of the unique characteristics of Jembrana, Bali, compared to other regions in Indonesia. The year 2021 was the moment when the KKS Cooperative managed to penetrate the United States (US) market.
"There is an opportunity for us at the KKS Cooperative to enter the American market and at the same time the challenges faced by the Cooperative are related to compliance with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulations or the United States Food and Drug Administration," said the Chairman of the KKS Cooperative, I Ketut Wiadnyana, in a press release, Saturday (1/1/2021). "But we are proud because we were able to penetrate the American market amid the current pandemic condition," he added. In 2022, he said the KKS Cooperative targets the production of dry fermented cocoa beans of 75 tons. In addition, the KSS Cooperative is also preparing for export to Valrhona, France.
In 2021, Ketut said that one of the difficulties faced by cocoa farmers in Jembrana was the decline in production levels. This is due to climate change factors, especially the impact of the La Nina phenomenon which resulted in very high rainfall resulting in the loss of flowers and wilted fruit due to high rainfall and humid garden conditions. As a result, the volume of fermented dry cocoa beans produced has decreased significantly from 48 tons in 2020, to 24 tons in 2021.
The KKS Cooperative itself received assistance from the Indonesian Export Financing Agency (LPEI)/Indonesia Eximbank because Jembrana became one of the LPEI foreign exchange villages. LPEI itself as the Ministry of Finance's Special Mission Vehicle (SMV) through a consulting service program remains active in providing intensive assistance to the fostered Foreign Exchange Villages to find solutions to any obstacles faced by farmers. LPEI hopes that Indonesian commodities can continue to improve competitiveness in the global market.
