A bitter sweet cocoa harvest - high prices, but small pods

Leaving the coolness of our air conditioned cab, we stepped out into the hot and humid tropical air of early afternoon. Cocoa trees lined both sides of the track, their deep green leaves waving languidly in the light breeze. Stepping into the shade of the trees we crunched noisily across the thick carpet of dead leaves that blanketed the ground. Calling out to anyone who might be in earshot, we could see plenty of evidence of recent activity. Here and there richly coloured cocoa pods were heaped in small brilliantly-coloured piles; fully ripe, their hulls were various shades of red, gold, green, brown and mauve.

We soon found who we were looking for. Emilio, our guide, is a field worker for the CONACADO cocoa co-operative and he knows exactly which of their farmers are expected to be harvesting their cocoa at a given time on a given day. Nicolas Manzueta, a genial cocoa farmer bathed in sweat from his day’s work, called back and soon approached welcoming us into his plot.

Having grown up on a cocoa farm Nicolas is all too aware of the vagaries of cocoa production; although cocoa prices are relatively healthy right now, he remembers the years when prices hit rock-bottom and farmers couldn’t cover their costs. In difficult weather years – like this year – his production can drop significantly. Hurricanes wreak havoc from time to time – in 2004, Hurricane Jeanne caused significant damage to farms – and here in 2010, the Dominican Republic is facing its most prolonged drought in at least thirty years and cocoa pods are 30-40% smaller than usual this harvest.

Generally, however, these days Nicolas has reason to feel more confident in the future of cocoa farming. ‘The prices I receive are more stable now that I’m a member of the co-operative’, he notes. ‘I used to live with the rest of my family but with the security of better returns thanks to the fair trade market I’ve now been able to build my own house’.

His organisation, CONACADO, has done a remarkable job of supporting better returns for small-scale cocoa farmers since its creation in 1988. Evolving out of a German-funded development project, the organisation is steadily transforming the local cocoa industry. Starting with a strong focus on research, CONACADO developed new fermentation techniques tailored to particularly suit the beans that were growing in the Dominican Republic. This cocoa, once a low quality product, is now marketed as a high grade product and has forged a reputation as a high-quality bean on the world market. More and more farmers have been pulled into their production system and today they represent the cocoa of 10,000 farmers – one quarter of the national producer base.

In addition to the success the organisation has had in adding value to the cocoa, they have also used sales to the international fair trade market to fund an impressive number of community projects, from schoolroom construction to provision of medicines for local health clinics, to the joint construction (in partnership with local neighbourhoods) of hundreds of water tanks that offer clean and accessible water to local residents.

We leave Nicolas to complete his work. CONACADO’s efficient collection system ensures that he will need to have all his cocoa beans removed from their pods and packed into sacks in time for a 5:30 pick-up; the organisation maintains a highly organised harvesting schedule to make sure that they can handle the logistics of fermenting and drying of all the beans at their local processing centre in nearby Yamasa, and everyone has agreed which day their own cocoa must be collected. He picks up his machete and heads off to split open pods and to get his cocoa ready for the truck.