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Fadillah (second right) visiting a booth exhibiting cocoa-based products before officiating the Malaysian Cocoa Board’s appreciation ceremony.-Bernama photo
KOTA KINABALU (May 15): The Malaysian Cocoa Board needs to look into approaches to increase cocoa bean production in the country, said Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Fadillah Yusof.
Fadillah who is also Plantation and Commodities Minister, said that while he is satisfied with the board’s past achievements there is still much to do as the cocoa industry is one that has huge potential.
“If we look at the past achievements we can see that there is an increase in the export of cocoa products but we should not rest on our laurels and instead work harder because the cocoa industry has a lot of potential for development,” he said at a press conference after attending the Malaysian Cocoa Board’s appreciation ceremony and Hari Raya Aidilfitri celebration here on Monday.
Fadillah who is on his first official visit to Sabah, disclosed that the Malaysian Cocoa Board’s export target this year is RM8 billion.
“In the first quarter of this year the country’s cocoa export value was RM1.8 billion and we expect an increase of 2.6 per cent from RM7.8 billion last year,” he said.
Fadillah who visited the Malaysian Cocoa Board office earlier in the day, said that he had suggested to the board to look into issues among which are strategic initiatives, how it can focus on assisting smallholders to increase their productivity and how to connect the processing all the way to the downstream products.
“We also need to look at how we can improve the networking not only in terms of research and development but also how we can apply the latest technology, smart farming, how to use IOT including artificial intelligence to increase not only the quality of the products but also on managing the whole value chain of cocoa production in Malaysia,” he stressed.
He lamented that the interest in cocoa cultivation has decreased with some smallholders switching to palm oil as they feel that the commodity is ‘easier’ to produce.
“That is why we are looking at how to attract those in the sector, especially the smallholders, to continue with their plantations or estates. We want to see how we can assist them so that not only can they maintain but also develop their products.
“At the same time we look into collaborations with big companies, mini estates including cooperatives on increasing the country’s cocoa bean products so that we no longer depend on import which is quite sizable in volume as it is valued at about RM6 billion,” he said.
“We are looking into how we can assist in terms of the input for cocoa in particular fertilizer as the price of it is going up. We are also encouraging them to be involved in producing organic fertilizer so that they can use or recycle the waste from cocoa.
“This is where we need researchers to look into the process and train the smallholders in particular to produce their own fertilizer so that they will not be relying on the chemical ones which are costly now,” he said.
During the event earlier Fadillah also witnessed a Memorandum of Understanding signing between Malaysian Cocoa Board and Angkatan Koperasi Kebangsaan Malaysia Berhad (ANGKASA).
Fadillah said the strategic cooperation with ANGKASA will provide requirements such as identifying cooperatives and moving training models to support cocoa cluster cooperative activities.
The collaboration started in 2021 when ANGKASA provided RM150,000 for the construction of two mini cocoa processing plants in Sabah and one in Sarawak which were completed in 2022 and now used by cocoa farmers.
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