Development of novel value chain from cocoa pod husks in Indonesia: Technological, environmental and socio-economic challenges of a value chain

印度尼西亚是世界第三大可可生产国，每年生产约40万吨可可，主要是在小型家庭农场，该行业对国内生产总值的贡献率约为14%。可可种植是100多万小农及其家庭的主要收入来源，因此，可可生产的经济和环境可持续性是农业社区长期社会和经济稳定的关键。然而，该部门正面临着重大的技术和商业挑战，这导致农业生产力低下，从而导致农民的盈利能力低下。尽管在过去8年里采取了一些公私举措，但仍需要进行重大改革，以提高可可生产的可持续性，并对农民的福利和经济稳定产生影响。这些措施包括实施最著名的耕作方法(如高效使用化肥和杀虫剂)、开发副产品的方法、改进可可豆的收获后技术、改善基础设施和运输、为农民制订教育和培训方案以及促进农民合作社的发展。这是我们的工业合作伙伴(玛氏巧克力有限公司)和印尼政府机构高度重视的研发议程。目前，大多数农民在提取豆子后，将豆荚壳留在可可种植园。这可以将一些养分返还给土壤(在没有使用任何其他化肥的情况下)，但未经处理的豆荚壳可能会导致可可豆荚蛾和黑豆病带来的病虫害压力增加，从而降低农场的生产率。该项目的目的是为可可豆壳开发一条新的价值链，一旦实施，将对可可农民的经济稳定和福利产生影响。具体目标是：(1)促使印度尼西亚农民愿意采用拟议的做法改变，并评估这些改变如何与农民的喜好相一致；(2)制定可扩展的工艺设计，将可可豆壳有效地分离成非可溶性纤维、可溶纤维和木质素级分；(3)确定和评估在食品和非食品部门内具有市场潜力的这类级分的增值应用；(4)了解场外去壳对土壤性质和土壤养分循环的潜在影响；(5)根据规模和经营模式(如集中或分散经营)提出供应链，并从农户和私营部门的角度评估经济可行性。开发以使用可可豆壳为基础的新价值链将最大限度地减少与处置可可豆壳有关的潜在负面环境影响，并通过收集、初级加工和运输可可豆壳使农民的活动多样化。所有这些变化都将大大提高可可生产的可持续性。这可能会对农民的经济稳定和福利产生重大影响，包括增加家庭收入、采用现代和可持续的耕作做法、对基础设施、制造业务和运输进行公私投资、引进新技术、开发新技能、创造就业和创业机会。该项目的成果将成为使用新价值链的有力理由，并确定社会经济和技术挑战(例如，农民采用新的耕作方法、过程效率和可伸缩性)以及成功实施的机会和风险。

Indonesia is the world's 3rd largest cocoa producer, producing around 400,000 tonnes pa of cocoa, primarily in small family farms, and this industry contributes ~14% to GDP. Cocoa farming is the main source of income for more than one million smallholder farmers and their families, therefore the economic and environmental sustainability of cocoa production is key for the long-term social and economic stability of farming communities. The sector though is facing significant technical and business challenges which lead to low farming productivities and consequently to low profitability for farmers. Despite a number of public-private initiatives over the last 8 years, significant changes are still needed to improve the sustainability of cocoa production and have an impact on farmers' welfare and economic stability. These include implementing best-known farming practices (e.g. efficient use of fertilisers and pesticides), developing approaches for the exploitation of by-products, improving post-harvesting techniques for cocoa beans, improving infrastructure and transportation, developing education and training programmes for farmers and promoting the development of farmers' co-operatives.The commercial exploitation of cocoa pod husks through their conversion to added-value products, such as biomaterials for food and non-food uses, is a promising strategy and a timely opportunity to address effectively and efficiently some of the sustainability issues of cocoa production. This is high up on the R&D agenda of our industrial partner (Mars Chocolate Ltd) and Indonesian government agencies. Currently, most farmers, after extracting the beans, leave the pod husks on cocoa plantations. This can return some nutrients to the soil (in the absence of any other fertiliser being used), but untreated pod husks can lead to increased pest and disease pressure from cocoa pod borer moth and black pod disease, thus decreasing the productivity of the farms. The aim of the project is to develop a novel value chain for cocoa pod husks which upon implementation will have an impact on the economic stability and welfare of cocoa farmers. The specific objectives are to: (i) elicit the willingness of farmers in Indonesia to adopt the proposed practice changes and assess how these might be aligned with farmers' preferences; (ii) develop scalable process designs for the efficient fractionation of cocoa pod husks into non-soluble fibre, soluble fibre and lignin fractions; (iii) identify and evaluate value-adding applications for such fractions with market potential within the food and non-food sectors; (iv) understand the potential impacts on soil properties and soil nutrient cycling of off-farm removal of husks; and (v) propose a supply chain based on scale and mode of operations (e.g. centralised or decentralised) and evaluate the economic viability from a farmer's and private sector perspective.Developing a new value chain based on the use of cocoa pod husks husks will minimise potentially negative environmental effects associated with their disposal and diversify the activities of farmers through the collection, primary processing and transportation of the husks. All these changes will considerably improve the sustainability of cocoa production. This can potentially have significant impact on the farmers' economic stability and welfare through increased household income, incorporation of modern and sustainable farming practices, public-private investments in infrastructure, manufacturing operations and transportation, introduction to new technologies, development of new skill sets, creation of jobs and entrepreneurial opportunities. The project's outcomes will make a strong case for use of the novel value chain and identify the socio-economic and technological challenges (e.g. adoption of new farming practices by farmers, process efficiency and scalability) and opportunities as well as the risks for its successful implementation.