Organic farming system of cocoa plantations in South Malang, Indonesia

Malang Regency is one of the cocoa producers in East Java, Indonesia with an area of more than 3,000 hectares. Some cocoa plantation in Malang have implemented organic farming systems. The purpose of this study was to reveal the organic farming process and system of cocoa plantations in South Malang. This research was conducted in Sumbermanjing Wetan Sub-district from May to July 2020 with a survey method of 40 respondents, selected by snowball sampling. The results showed that 97.5% of farmers understood about organic farming systems. Most of their knowledge comes from field instructors and fellow members of farmer groups. The practice of organic farming that they do is by using organic fertilizer derived from manure, compost, and liquid organic fertilizers. Furthermore, farmers also use 16 plant species as botanical pesticides. In pest control, 65% of farmers also understand the importance of natural enemies. One of the most popular natural enemies is the weaver ants (Oecophylla smaragdina) or as a pest control Tea mosquito bug (Helopeltis antoniii). Type of effort to preserve: preparing special trees, making nests, leaving them alive and breeding, and avoiding sprayed with pesticides. However, farmers still undergo obstacles such as field maintenance and processing, less effective pest control, expensive of market bio-pesticides price products, declining crop yields, and marketing difficulties.