SHOWCASING FARMERS WORK IN CHOCOLATE
Take a minute to Read about our partners.
BEAN TO BAR CHOCOLATE MADE IN SYDNEY AUSTRALIA. WE ARE CACAO ROASTERS MAKING DRINKING CHOCOLATE, HOT CHOCOLATE, COOKING CHOCOLATE, ALL ORGANIC AND ABSOLUTELY DELICIOUS. wE ARE PROUD TO MAKE SPECIALITY CACAO, TO ROAST CACAO AND MAKE SPECIALITY HIGH QUALITY CHOCOLATE.
ECUADOR, REGENERATIVE ECO CACAO
ECUADOR, REGENERATIVE ECO CACAO
REGENERATIVE ECO CACAO, ECUADOR
CECAO is based in Guayaquil, Ecuador, with operations across south central Ecuador through their 10 community-based member associations that comprise a network of over 1,800 producers.
Through the CECAO Foundation, all associations receive technical assistance and additional services. CECAO works closely with its producer network to focus on productivity of farms, quality of post-harvest, and intercropping of other fruit species for ecological and economic diversity. CECAO is committed to paying farmers fair prices, improving cacao productivity, maintaining high quality and consistency, at high volumes. Each association has their own managers who are responsible for traceability, producer network and relations, buying, and post harvest. Each association has its own centralized fermentation and drying facility that processes all of the producer network’s cacao in that region. CECAO pre-finances 100% of the associations, which provides the working capital that the associations use to buy from producers. In return, the associations sell exclusively to CECAO. There are 1,806 registered producers across the network, of which nearly 20% are women.
BOLIVIA, EL CEIBO
BOLIVIA, EL CEIBO
EL CEIBO, BOLIVIA
In Bolivia, cocoa is found naturally in the forests of Beni, Cochabamba and northern La Paz. These beans are supplied by El Ceibo. This is a second level cooperative, founded in 1977 by 12 grassroot cooperatives.
El Ceibo brings together more than 1200 small producers dedicated to the cultivation of organic cocoa in the Alto Beni region. Since 1977 it has dedicated its efforts to improving the livelihoods of its associates.
For many years, El Ceibo in collaboration with PIAF (Program for implementation of Agro Ecology and Forestry) have promoted the cultivation of cocoa in agroforestry plantation systems, growing cocoa along fruit crops, medicinal plants and timber.
Currently, it is leading the way and is an example in Bolivia to cooperatives dedicated to organic agriculture.
An important pillar in the strategy of El Ceibo for the coming years is to engage youth in the cooperatives to guarantee succession.
UGANDA, SEMULIKI FOREST
UGANDA, SEMULIKI FOREST
SEMULIKI FOREST, UGANDA
LOCATED IN BUNDIBUGYO, WESTERN UGANDA, SEMULIKI FOREST CACAO IS GROWN BY 1,002 ORGANIC SMALLHOLDER FARMERS IN THE REGION, 52% OF WHOM ARE WOMEN. LATITUDE TRADE CO. (LTC), THE COMPANY THAT PROCESSES AND EXPORTS THIS CACAO, HAS ORGANIZED 6 RURAL COLLECTION POINTS FOR FARMERS TO ACCESS, WHERE THEY SELL FRESH CACAO WEEKLY INTO THE NETWORK AND RECEIVE CASH AT THE POINT OF SALE.
LTC'S CENTRALIZED FERMENTATION FACILITY AND WAREHOUSE IS LOCATED IN THE VILLAGE OF BUMATE, AT THE BASE OF THE HILLS LEADING INTO THE MOUNTAINS. THE SITE IS DESIGNED TO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF ALL POSSIBLE AVAILABLE SUNSHINE WHILE LIMITING RUNOFF FROM HEAVY RAINFALL. FERMENTATION BOXES HAVE A 500KG CAPACITY AND TOTAL DURATION OF FERMENTATION VARIES FROM 5.5-6.5 DAYS. BEANS ARE SUN-DRIED ON PORTABLE RAISED RACKS FOR 6-7 DAYS AND BLENDED TO CREATE CONSISTENT LOTS BEFORE EXPORT.
BELIZE, MAYA MOUNTAIN
BELIZE, MAYA MOUNTAIN
MAYA MOUNTAIN, BELIZE
FOUNDED IN 2010, MAYA MOUNTAIN CACAO (MMC) PUT BELIZE ON THE CRAFT CHOCOLATE MAP AS A PIONEER IN THE CENTRALIZED FERMENTERY SOCIAL ENTERPRISE MODEL, AND THE FIRST EXPORTER IN THE COUNTRY TO PRODUCE HIGH-QUALITY, CENTRALLY-FERMENTED CACAO FOR THE U.S. CRAFT CHOCOLATE MARKET. MMC WORKS WITH 350+ CERTIFIED ORGANIC SMALLHOLDER CACAO FARMING FAMILIES IN THE TOLEDO AND SOUTH STANN CREEK DISTRICTS, MOST OF WHOM ARE INDIGENOUS Q’EQCHI’ AND MOPAN MAYA AND WHO HAVE BEEN PRODUCING CACAO FOR GENERATIONS. MMC’S 100% BELIZEAN MAYA TEAM CENTRALLY PROCESSES ALL CACAO AT A POST-HARVEST FACILITY WHERE THREE UNIQUE STAGES OF SUN DRYING CREATE OPTIMAL FLAVOR.
MMC WAS AWARDED AN HEIRLOOM CACAO PRESERVATION (HCP) DESIGNATION IN 2014, AND THROUGH GENETIC TESTING WE KNOW THAT THE MAJORITY OF CACAO CULTIVATED BY FAMILIES IN THE MMC FARMER NETWORK ARE AMELONADO-DOMINANT HYBRIDS AND OTHER UPPER AMAZON FORASTERO HYBRIDS. MMC IS FOCUSED ON BEING A SUSTAINABLE, LONG TERM AND TRANSPARENT PARTNER TO FARMERS AND PRODUCING UNIQUELY DELICIOUS AND SWEET CACAO THAT CREATES REAL POSITIVE IMPACT FOR THE COMMUNITIES OF SOUTHERN BELIZE.
IN 2019, MAYA MOUNTAIN CACAO WAS AWARDED A COCOA OF EXCELLENCE AWARD, WHICH PLACED IT WITHIN THE TOP 20 COCOAS GLOBALLY.
DOMINICAN REPUBLIC, OKO CARIBE
DOMINICAN REPUBLIC, OKO CARIBE
OKO CARIBE, DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
NESTLED IN THE HEART OF THE CACAO RICH DUARTE PROVINCE IN THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC, ÖKO-CARIBE (“ECO-CARIBBEAN” IN GERMAN) IS A GEM AMONGST CACAO SUPPLIERS. WITH MORE THAN 50 YEARS OF COMBINED EXPERIENCE IN CACAO, OWNERS ADRIANO DE JESUS RODRIGUEZ AND GUALBERTO ACEBEY TORREJON HAVE FINE-TUNED THEIR SYSTEMS TO ENSURE CONSISTENT, SUPERIOR QUALITY IN THEIR 500+ TONS OF ANNUAL PRODUCTION. ÖKO CARIBE MAINTAINS CLOSE RELATIONSHIPS WITH ITS 165 FARMERS THROUGH TECHNICAL TRAINING, IN AGRONOMIC PRACTICES AND ORGANIC CERTIFICATION. IN ADDITION, OWNERS ADRIANO AND GUALBERTO HAVE PERSONAL RELATIONSHIPS WITH ALL FARMERS, OFFERING MICROFINANCE LOANS FOR CACAO-RELATED EXPENSES, AS WELL AS PERSONAL LOANS FOR FAMILY EMERGENCIES OR OTHER COMMUNITY NEEDS. THE LOYALTY BETWEEN ÖKO CARIBE AND THE FARMERS THEY WORK WITH IS NOT ONLY EVIDENCED IN DAILY INTERACTIONS BETWEEN STAFF, MANAGEMENT AND FARMERS, BUT ALSO IN THEIR BEST-IN-CLASS, AWARD WINNING FINAL PRODUCT.
PERU, SAN MARTIN
PERU, SAN MARTIN
SAN MARTIN, PERU
Amazon Specialities, our partner in Peru for the CacaoLife cocoa butter and powder, was founded by Peruvians Aurelio and Marco to develop high quality cacao products working alongside cooperatives and farmer groups around Peru. Aurelio has been working with rural communities in Peru since he was 16 years old, and in the early 2000’s he started a non-profit organization focused on diversification of sustainable agriculture, through which he developed a wide network of contacts in cacao producing communities.
Today, Amazon Specialties works with 20 different cooperatives in cacao, as well as other Amazonian superfoods and specialty crops. The team promotes crop diversification for farmers, and Amazon Specialties purchases a variety of those crops, to ensure year-round income for farmers and help them become less risk averse. Amazon Specialties has launched innovative reforestation initiatives, including recently purchasing 25 acres of degraded land and reforesting it with natural diverse rainforest.
The company established their own manufacturing plant in Lima to control quality across the whole cacao butter process. They work closely with cooperatives on fermentation and drying protocols for their specific beans, and then bring the cacao to their own plant to carefully run the butter and powder press. The butter and powder that Uncommon Cacao buys from Amazon Specialties is sourced from a cooperative of 957 organic cacao producing families in the Huánuco and San Martin departments, rocky and mountainous terrain with a strongly established population of indigenous communities who have been growing cacao for generations. The growers produce native and aromatic cacaos, and the cacao for this butter in particular was obtained from 435 of these families, all certified organic. The cacao is fermented and dried by individual farmers, and purchased by the cooperative as dried cacao. The cooperative runs quality control evaluations on each purchase from producers to comply with Amazon Specialties’ quality parameters.