Farmers’ contributions in the establishment of value-added from holistic cocoa processing: A case study in Trenggalek Regency, East Java

Abstract

One of the efforts that can be taken to increase the competitiveness of smallholder cocoa plantations is to increase the value of the product through processing from upstream to downstream. The study aimed to analyze the value-added at various stages of processing cocoa beans and identify the contribution of farmers in creating value-added in the processing flow of the people’s cocoa beans from upstream to downstream in Karangan District, Trenggalek Regency. The study was conducted in Karangan District that has facilities to perform cocoa processing from upstream to downstream. Hayami method was used to value-added from various stages of smallholder cocoa bean processing and descriptive analysis was used to analyze the contribution of farmers in processing activities. The results showed that the percentages of value-added from the processing of cocoa pods into wet cocoa beans were 0.99%, cocoa pods into non-fermented dry cocoa beans was 2.27%, cocoa-pods into fermented dry cocoa beans was 4.82%, fermented dried cocoa beans into pure cocoa powder was 20.06%, and processing pure cocoa powder into instant drinks was 71.86%. The study means that the value-added value and profits obtained by farmers for their contribution to cocoa processing are still relatively low.