KOTA KINABALU: Cocoa contribution to the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) increased 5.4% to RM1.64bil last year from RM1.56bil in 2019, the Ministry of Plantation Industries and Commodities (MPIC) said.

       “Agri-commodity sector is one of the main contributors to the country’s export revenue. The cocoa sub-sector, in particular, has contributed RM6.23bil to the country’s export revenue in 2020,” it said in a statement in conjunction with Minister Datuk Zuraida Kamaruddin’s working visit to the Malaysian Cocoa Board (MCB) yesterday.

       The ministry said MCB is currently developing programmes to produce high-quality fine flavour cocoa beans and would develop a tracking system to support the production of the cocoa beans.

       Cocoa beans being sorted out (file pic)

       It said the cocoa beans could be marketed at a high price of up to RM15 per kg and the demand for premium cocoa beans by chocolatier entrepreneurs are increasing whereby, there are currently eight single-origin chocolate artisan entrepreneurs nationwide.

       “MPIC is confident that the market and demand for cocoa products can be increased to more countries through impactful programmes like this,” it said.

       It said MCB is also implementing a cocoa cluster chain development programme as a catalyst for the local cocoa production sustainability by using the concept of “Farm to Table”.

       The ministry said the programme is targeted at smallholders who are traditionally involved in the upstream sector. It said infrastructures were also developed to provide smallholders with facilities to process cocoa beans produced by them. — Bernama