Bright waves of orange and black broke the green landscape on this sunny day in Tani Madiri Village. I had arrived just in time for the ceremony and celebration called “Commitment for the Future,” and had a front row seat. Eight teens – four gals and four guys – were performing at traditional harvest dance as the community was
Efforts to increase collaboration between cocoa producers, international traders, partner organizations and policy makers took a major step forward during the second annual Africa Fairtrade Conventionin Accra, Ghana on November 23rd through 26th. The convention, which has grown substantially in just a year under the leadership of Fairtrade Africa Chairman Yorokamu Abainenamar and Executive Director Michael Nkonu, provided an opportunity
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In June I had a wonderful opportunity to see the Success Alliance program in action on the island of Mindanao in the Philippines. The program is run by ACDI/VOCA with the support of USAID and the World Cocoa Foundation, of which Mars is a member. Broadly, Success Alliance works to enable farmers to create successful businesses around cocoa production, and this can include
Lots of people ask about cocoa bean fermentation, what is it and why is it necessary…. In short, fermentation is a very complex process, involving microbial activity acting on the cocoa pulp, changes in the internal cell structure and chemistry of the bean, and changes in the internal colour of the bean. The temperature and acidity generated in fermentation kills the cocoa bean, and
The Chelsea Flower Show is one of the most prestigious and impressive flower shows in the world, and was visited by the Queen and President Obama during his visit to London. This year the University of Reading put on a display highlighting their cocoa research (part supported by Mars), into physiology, breeding, climate change, and pest and disease management. The University manages the only
Cocoa pest and disease breakout group, World Cocoa Foundation meeting, San Francisco May 18th 2011
World Cocoa Foundation meeting, San Francisco, May 18th 2011. Dr Wilbert Philips (CATIE), Belinda Quintanilla (Belinda Chocolatiere), Dr Martin Gilmour (Mars), and Dr Rina Sriwati (Syiah Kuala University) discuss approaches to managing cocoa pests and diseases in a breakout session.
The last two days brought together a huge range of government officials, private companies and civil society groups for the biannual partners meeting of the World Cocoa Foundation in San Francisco. This meeting focused on emerging cocoa origins, and Asia was a focus for many attendees. Particularly interesting was a presentation by Swisscontact’s Manfred Boer on their 21 month, $7 million dollar PEKA Project
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