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| Concept of farmers' labs |
Many provinces could be turned into major cacao
producing areas through an intensification program. However, a sustainable
agriculture concept should be adopted so that the intensification program would
not harm the environment.
Sustainable practices are applied by some farmer
groups in Indonesia. Yet many farmers still use the traditional approach to
agriculture, which harms the environment and brings little benefit. Immediately
after harvesting, they strive to sell their cacao beans to middlemen in order
to get quick money, without considering the sustainable market for their
product and enhancing their own income.
The main barrier to pro-environmental and
sustainable practices is the personal attitude of the farmers. They do not put
much effort into gaining knowledge about the negative impacts of their
agricultural practices, which can result in a more vulnerable situation for
their livelihood. The mind-set of the farmers makes them act and react based on
the experiences of their forefathers, not based on knowledge and science. This
value creates perceptions among the farmers that their forefathers who used old
farming practices for a long time are more reliable than the knowledge that
comes from external actors.
