By: Andhiani M. Kumalasari

Proudly, Nathaniel explains that Kampung Sabeyab Besar's cocoa has already gone international to Europe. His words are true. Cocoa from his village has become the raw material for a premium chocolate product, Original Beans marketed in Europe.

While sitting cross-legged on the ground, his mouth chewing betel nuts with red-colored lips, Nathaniel Yaru (63 years old) conveyed the challenges faced in terms of cultivating Dutch cocoa, also known as kerafat chocolate. According to him, farmers still lack tools for cultivation activities such as machetes, poles, and polybags so that their cocoa production can be smoother and better in the future.

According to Nathaniel, this is an important part of the cocoa cultivation process, after all, gardening is the main livelihood of the people in Sabeyab Besar Village, Kemtuk District, Jayapura Regency, which is also Nathaniel's place. Since 2008, the village community has agreed to form a cocoa farmer group, called Srukumani, which means inexhaustible resources. There are 32 farmers in the group, with an average of 2-3 ha.

Nathaniel explained that this farmer group was actually dormant for a long time, but since 2012 the activities of the Srukamani farmer group began to stretch again, even after receiving assistance from WWF Indonesia. Through the farmer group mentoring program by WWF Indonesia, Nathaniel and other farmers have received various training and capacity building on cocoa cultivation. As the head of the farmer group, he is not tired of motivating other farmers to pay attention to the condition of their farms. He is not stingy in sharing his experience and knowledge for each stage of the harvest preparation process, garden maintenance, harvesting and post-harvest processes.

"Now Sa -I- am happy, torang -we su -have- cocoa beans bought at a high price," said Nathaniel with a thick Papuan accent. Nathaniel added that in the past, wet cocoa beans were bought at only Rp 2,000 per kg, then with the assistance of WWF and the inclusion of original beans, it is now Rp 7,000 per kg, not to mention that if you sell dry beans, the price can skyrocket to Rp 16,000 per kg.
With pride, Nathaniel explained that the cocoa of Sabeyab Besar village has already gone international to Europe, precisely in Switzerland. His words are true. Dutch cocoa from his village has become the raw material for a premium chocolate product, Original Beans which is marketed in Europe. But this remarkable achievement also presents a new challenge for him. Now he and other farmers can no longer "play around" in cultivating Dutch cocoa. The quality of the dried cocoa beans produced must really meet the quality standards of premium cocoa beans.

"Now torang must be diligent in cleaning the garden, fermenting and drying torang has cocoa beans properly," he continued. Last October (2015) alone, Nathaniel and the farmer group had also received training for organic certification. "Su has never used chemical fertilizers, torang su has been in the forest for a long time, it just grows naturally," he added.

Proudly showing the location of the farmer group's new demonstration garden, Nathaniel explained that currently farmers are also learning how to nursery and side-grafting and shoot-grafting techniques for the vegetative development of cocoa plants. Many farmers can't wait to do the same as him. The process is gradual but for him, government attention and support from other parties to help his farmer group is needed.

For him, the results he is currently getting are good enough and help improve his family's economy. But again, what makes him proud is that he started it. "If people want to start, there must be results," he said seriously.

Listening to Nathaniel's exemplary story, it feels like asking him to quote a sentence belonging to the great Indonesian writer, Pramoedya Ananta Toer, "Everything good comes in flocks. Only because I have started. The others will come by themselves. Everything needs a beginning. The beginning has already been made."