The cocoa industry in Venezuela is
seeing a big comeback as farmers
in that country are going organic.
In recent years the news from
Venezuela was more about oil and
politics than anything else,
however, chocolate is now taking
over. The price for organically
grown cocoa products is nearly 4
times higher than non-organic
cocoa. Organic cocoa is being
bought for the high end single
bean malt whiskies in Europe and
the USA. In addition to growing
cacao trees, the farmers in
Venezuela are also producing their
own chocolate.
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Nearly half the day is spent
nurturing the trees, protecting
them from pests, insects and bad
weather. Using only natural
compost instead of man made
fertilizers is twice the work, but
well worth it to the Venezuelan
cocoa farmers. The price of
conventional cacao beans was $2.00
per kilogram, now they receive
$7.00 per kilogram, quite an
increase. Their products are now
sold directly to foreign chocolate
manufacturers, eliminating the
local intermediaries who have been
priced out of the cacao market.
Fifty families have banded
together to create an association
of organic cacao farmers.
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The cacao seed are fermented for
six days in large wooden boxes,
then sun dried on the cement patio
of the association building.
After that they are cleaned,
sorted, weighed and put into sacks
ready for export. During the
rainy season a flood can wipe out
the entire crop a river bursting
its banks can destroy several
acres or trees in a few hours
time. In the last three years the
annual cacao production has
doubled, and the owners believe it
is due to the conversion to
organic farming.
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The majority of the funding to
start this program came from the
Venezuelan government who has
provided 10 million dollars in
research and training. In
addition the European Union has
been funding them through a
non-government organization called
Tierra Viva. America, France and
Italy are all purchasing organic
beans in Venezuela, the “single
bean origin” label denotes aroma
and purity and only Venezuela can
offer that at this time.
Thank you,


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