The Government of Luwu Utara Regency in Sulawesi Selatan Province held focus-group discussions 30–31 May 2022 in the Command Centre Meeting Room at Luwu Utara Regent’s Office to discuss development of sustainable cocoa farming.
The discussions were organized in collaboration with the Sustainable Farming in Tropical Asian Landscapes (SFITAL) action-research programme led by World Agroforestry (ICRAF) Indonesia in collaboration with Mars, Incorporated and Rainforest Alliance UTZ.
Thirty people attended from Government offices, non-government agencies, industry, academe and media.
The discussions were aimed at determining SFITAL’s activities in Luwu Utara Regency, including a monitoring and evaluation framework as part of a roadmap and various scenarios for development of sustainable cocoa farming. The Government of Luwu Utara and SFITAL see these as strategic initial steps towards future successful cocoa farming in the regency.
H. Armidi, Regional Secretary representing the Regent, opened the discussions, emphasising the importance of working ‘hand in hand’ to develop the roadmap and scenarios.
“This regency appreciates all support provided by external agencies,” he said. “We welcome all participants to actively contribute to the discussions with their initiatives and opinions. I hope by the end of the second day, all the outputs will be planned and achievable.”
The Regional Secretary noted that sustainable cocoa development is in line with the Regent’s priority programmes. Cocoa farming has already significantly contributed to local community development but needed to be sustainable if long-term prosperity was to be achieved.
Feri Johana, Green Growth Planning and Policy Specialist with ICRAF Indonesia, representing SFITAL, explained that the discussions were a follow-up from several initial meetings carried out with related groups.
“During the meetings, we agreed upon a number of basic principles and indicators for developing a roadmap and scenarios,” he said. “We will work to coordinate and synergize all stakeholders and their activities. Aspects to cover in the roadmap include cocoa production, institutional strengthening, and competitiveness. We hope that the roadmap and scenarios we are now developing will lead the way to make use of all the available resources and potential towards sustainable cocoa farming.”
Johana further noted that a series of discussions with the Kakao Lestari Working Group had resulted in a number of important agreements on 1) principles, criteria and indicators for sustainable cocoa; 2) visions of all stakeholders; and 3) a strategy and interventions towards development of sustainable cocoa.
Two researchers from ICRAF Indonesia, Tania Benita and Arga Pandiwijaya, facilitated the discussions. They presented data and information related to the landscape approach for sustainable resource management. They also guided the participants by explaining the process for developing the roadmap and scenarios.
