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Southeast Aceh Farmers Are Setting a New Course for Cocoa Production Toward Agroforestry and Resilience

Indonesia
Sustainable agriculture
20.08.2024
High cocoa prices prompt farmers to scale up cocoa planting, but will they avoid past pitfalls? Will this boom drive deforestation, overreliance on a volatile crop, or limit access to competitive planting materials and technology? Swisscontact and partners collaborate with farmers to maximize the benefits and minimize risks of Indonesia’s next cocoa boom.
A supported cocoa demofarm near the buffer zone of Leuser Ecosystem Area. Agroforestry model is pivotal to be widely introduced to farmers in Southeast Aceh which 85% of the district area is forest cover and cocoa is the main commodity for most farmers in the district.

After gradually exiting cocoa over the previous 15 years due to low prices, Indonesian farmers are now rushing back in after cocoa prices reached a historic high in March 2024. Southeast Aceh farmers are now better positioned than ever to benefit from the cocoa price-boom. Thanks to previous Swisscontact cocoa projects, the region now boasts 40 community and commercial nurseries producing high quality cocoa trees – the latest recommended combinations of clonal seedlings from joint Indonesian and international research efforts.

But with every commodity boom, there comes a bust. In preparation for that, Swisscontact is working with the Government Southeast Aceh to introduce to local farmers cocoa agroforestry systems that are more resilient to price drops of the main crop, cocoa.

As part of the Leuser Alas-Singkil River-Basin (LASR) project, Swisscontact and its implementing partner, PT Koltiva, are demonstrating agroforestry concepts to farmers at ten locations. These farms are designed to generate a living income for cocoa farmers while naturally maintaining the farm’s soil health.

Layout plan of Cocoa Agroforestry Farm with compatible cocoa clones and high-nutrient and shaded cash crops

Each hectare is planted with around 600 cocoa trees of 3 different varieties, interspersed with about 200 other trees that provide alternative income and foods for household consumption (e.g., banana, durian, avocado, aren, and kelor) and trees that fix nitrogen in the soil (lamtoro), along with some that do both (petai).

This more diversified system also enhances farm agroecology by improving soil health and reducing pest and disease risks. For example, the leaves of the fast-growing kelor tree (Moringa oleifera) not only offer health benefits when consumed, but also mulch with insecticidal and fungicidal properties that protect the surrounding cocoa trees and improve soil health.

One of the supported cocoa agroforestry demofarms in Southeast Aceh showcasing the intercropping with durian, petai, and other fruits. Also, there are livestock and fishpond in this farm.

Through its sustainable landscape project (LASR), Swisscontact is collaborating with local authorities to promote a more sustainable landscape approach. A resilient, diverse, and multi-layered cocoa production system will play a key role in creating a more sustainable landscape that brings prosperity to local communities.  

2023 - 2025
Indonesia
Sustainable agriculture
Sustainable Landscape Program Indonesia 
The purpose of the LASR Project is to foster climate-resilient economic development in the largest natural reserve in Northern Sumatra Island, the Leuser Ecosystem, through a jurisdictional landscape approach. 
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