Indonesia's 'cocoa doctors' may help avoid looming supply crunch

Jakarta

EIGHT years after turning his back on cocoa following a string of harvest failures, Andi Asri has returned to the crop and is enjoying bumper production and profits, thanks to a tie-up with a major chocolate maker that wants to secure long-term supplies.

Mr Asri's plantation on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi is at the heart of Asia's largest cocoa-producing region, and is where some international confectioners are looking to boost output to feed growing demand for chocolate in the region.