The history of Jembrana’s cacao cooperative, Kerta Semaya Samaniya (“KSS”) is characterised by perseverance, patience and creativity.

Initially founded in 2006, the group became bankrupt in 2008 following a combination of mismanagement and an outbreak of Vascular Streak Disease.

In 2011, local NGO Kalimajari joined KSS and introduced the  Sustainable Action and Advocacy in Cocoa (SUBAK) program supported by funding from UTZ Indonesia. Since then, KSS membership has risen to over 600 farmers, organised under 38 farmer groups or “subak abian”. 

One of the key pillars of KSS’s strategy is gender equality. Historically, women were often limited to ‘helpers’ despite doing most of the work on the farm. The introduction of female-led trainings on good agricultural practices and post-harvesting processing has helped increase their self confidence as well the ability to train other female farmers across the farmer groups. Further, women can now join the cooperative, which allows them to sell their cacao directly to KSS and therefore gain full transparency of the income generated.

Most recently, KSS have invested in processing equipment, which allows them produce and sell roasted nibs. We very much welcome this effort to increase the value creation at the cacao origin and look forward to the next phase which will allow the team to produce their own Tree-to-Bar chocolate.

The strategic partnership between KSS and Kalimajari has not only helped improve the livlihoods of its members, but also transformed the cooperative into a flagship model for cacao farmers across Indonesia. 

The Biji Kakao Trading team is grateful to be part of this future journey.