RM5m for Sabah cocoa restoration
DAILY EXPRESS
KOTA KINABALU: The Malaysian Cocoa Board (LKM) has awarded RM5 million to Sabah for the Cocoa Plantation Restoration Project this year. Sabah’s allotment will go towards the restoration of 1,344 hectares of existing cocoa plantations, which are cultivated by 2,084 farmers.
The programme’s goal is to boost cocoa yields through agricultural input incentives and to use cutting-edge technologies in cocoa farm management.
According to Plantation and Commodities Deputy Minister Datuk Chan Foong Hin, Sabah has been the country’s main producer of cocoa beans since the beginning. In 2023, the area of cocoa plantations in Sabah is 8,510 acres or 3,444 hectares, which is 57.5 per cent of the total area of cocoa plantations in the country.
To date, Sabah’s downstream industry consists of four chocolate and cocoa confection manufacturing businesses, as well as 32 local chocolate entrepreneurs.
Chocolate entrepreneurs in Sabah made RM792,351 in sales in 2022. Between January and September 2023, the sales value reached RM851,928.
Since the sales value of the downstream industry is still low, Chan hopes continuous efforts from LKM will help to further increase the sales revenue of entrepreneurs and increase the number of cocoa entrepreneurs in Malaysia through policies and planned projects.
According to him, cocoa is one of the main food commodity crops contributing to the country’s export income.
“In 2022, earnings from cocoa exports was as much as RM7.82 billion, while cocoa export revenue from January to November 2023 was at RM7.4 billion,” he said during his first official working visit to the LKM’s headquarters at Wisma Sedco, here, Friday.
“However, the trade balance for the cocoa industry in 2022 will only be recorded at RM1.72 billion and RM20 million in 2023 (as of November) due to the dependence on the import of dry cocoa beans.
“It is my aspiration for all of us to develop the cocoa industry, especially in Sabah, with earnestness so that we can improve the cocoa trade balance in the coming years,” he said.
Also present were LKM Management Board Chairman Datuk Matbali Musah, LKM Director Datuk Dr Ramle Kasin and the Ministry’s Cocoa and Pepper Industry Development Division Secretary Cheah Chee Fong.
