2026 is the International Year of the Women farmer coined by the United Nations. As Women farmers are central to food security, nutrition and economic resilience, the UN will spotlight the essential roles women play across agrifood systems, from production to trade.
With these five portraits we aim to show the dignity and reality of women cocoa farmers, that SAFE Indonesia works together with Mondelēz International, SNV, as well as actors like Wahana Visi Indonesia (World Vision Indonesia) to support equitable approaches.
They belong to a women-only Village Savings and Loans Association (VSLA) in the village of Tompi Bugis, Central Sulawesi, that was founded in April 2025.
The group consists of 20 members with total savings more than USD 730 in a cycle. Such groups allow members to pool their savings, and provide members with credit from their collective balance. This provides members with financial stability and a safety net and means, for example, that they can purchase inputs for their cocoa farms when prices are favourable, rather than on the basis of when they have cash to hand.
Note: Some Indonesians go by a single name.
Ite Nuria, 56, heads of the VSLA group, her role is to organize and lead the discussion. A cocoa farmer herself, widowed, when asked, she sees the weather changes as an obstacle: «When one wants to fertilize, there is no rain». She recognizes the importance of the forests: «Forests are the lungs of the world, some of our trees are considered sacred, holy.»
When asked what she would like people around the world to know about their lives she answered:
I want to be trained so I can grow my life and have a better life. The price of the cocoa should be stabilized.
Hanawia Attung, 61, is one of the three key keepers, widowed, with two adult children, manages the farm and household on her own. The cocoa farming supports her children getting a good education, one of her sons goes to college in Java.
When asked about challenges, she sees the volatile cocoa prices. She is grateful that there are many organizations supporting communities in Central Sulawesi, that give her motivation.
Her parents were already cocoa farmers, she is very proud to be a cocoa farmer:
I can see and enjoy the results.
Ratih, is a housekeeper, with 5 children, and supports the family farm. The obstacles she sees are dying seedlings and challenges in the weather, too much rain.
She mentions the saying:
The farm belongs to the men, the tree belongs to the men, the cocoa belongs to the men, but the dried cocoa belongs to the women.
Siska, 29, works in the village office, her family has a 1 ha cocoa farm, she helps her parents with drying the cocoa and selling it at the buying station. She notices the seeds of the cocoa getting smaller, and lower prices and hopes to get access to better seedlings and training.
Jumsia, an elementary school teacher, 43, is one of the notetakers for the financial report, she has three sons. When the group started in April 2025, she says the minds were opened to financial literacy, to save the money, separate the money for education and cocoa farms, to invest and for emergency funds.
More about VSLA:
© Nyani Quarmyne, giz
© Nyani Quarmyne, giz
© Nyani Quarmyne, giz
