Have own brand of chocolate products one day, planters told
Published on: Saturday, December 20, 2014
RANAU: Cocoa planters here have been urged to increase their productivity to realise their ambition of producing locally-made brand of chocolate products that have unique flavour not found in other places, one day.Director of Malaysia Cocoa Board (LKM), Dr Lee Choon Hui said the cocoa industry opens up a huge door for smallholders to create lucrative opportunities for themselves as well as the district in the future."Currently Sabah is the main producer of cocoa in Malaysia and Ranau is one of the biggest producer in Sabah. This alone should become a strong motivation for planters here to grab the opportunities.ADVERTISEMENT "Chocolate products are loved by many people, especially tourists from the West. If cocoa entrepreneurs in Ranau are able to produce their own unique brand of chocolate, this will become something that would be remembered by many people from all over the world," he said.In order to make the development of cocoa in the country vibrant, Dr Lee said LKM was given RM16 million this year to boost cocoa productivity in 2015 under the New Cocoa Planting Programme."This is specifically channeled to develop 2,000 hectares of new cocoa all over Malaysia. From that, 500 hectares is set aside for Ranau," he said, pointing out how significant the district is in the country's cocoa industry. Dr Lee was speaking when officiating the Majlis Perasmian Penutupan Program Pemantapan Kelompok Tani Koko Siri 2 Tahun 2014 that was held at the Ranau Sports Complex Auditorium, Friday.ADVERTISEMENT Meanwhile, LKM's Director of Technology Transfer and Development, Dr Ramle Hj Kasin said about 250 cocoa planters participated in the programme, which features activities like the selling of dried cocoa beans, cocoa clinic and exhibitions, among others."The selling of dried cocoa beans during the programme ran smoothly and was very encouraging. We were informed that about eight tonnes of dried cocoa beans from planters and smallholders in Karanaan, Kundasang, Paginatan, Tambunan and Kota Belud were sold during this event," he said.
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Dr Ramle said the programme was held by LKM in its efforts to introduce planting technology and cocoa management to the participants."Among the technology presented is the cocoa planting system, pruning techniques, fertalising, weeds and pests control, as well as future potential of cocoa planting," he said. Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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Also present at the event were Cocoa Planters Association Sabah (Penakos) Chairman, Saud Alfian, Chairman of Ranau Cocoa Planters Association, Bidi Bongkok, Ranau LKM Unit Chief, Affendy Ting and others.Caption: Dr Lee (middle), Dr Ramle (left) and Saud showing the Ranau cocoa seeds which are of high quality.