Cocoa value-added processes will generate new business opportunities and greater income for women producers
Ottawa, 8 June 2016 (IICA). A project that promotes the development of the cocoa value-added chain and the expansion of business opportunities, to be implemented by the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA), seeks to generate greater income for women producers in Peru and the Dominican Republic by adding greater value to their products.
The initiative, entitled "Enhancing Value-added Opportunities of Small-scale Cocoa Producers in Peru and the Dominican Republic," is funded by the IICA Technical Cooperation Fund (FonTC) and will be implemented by the IICA Delegation in Canada, together with the Delegations in the Dominican Republic and Peru.
The project was presented to senior officials of the ministries of Agriculture in the beneficiary countries during the Third World Cocoa Conference, held in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic.
According to Audia Barnett, IICA Representative in Canada, this initiative has great potential to be replicated, since it could impact the livelihoods of small producers in Latin America and the Caribbean.
In Punta Cana, members of cocoa associations and cooperatives in the beneficiary countries expressed their commitment to collaborating with the project and highlighted the fact that adding value to cocoa is the only way to guarantee the sustainability of this good in their respective countries.
The Director of the Dominican Republic National Cocoa Platform was also in agreement, and stated that cocoa production in the Dominican Republic was critical because it ensured the availability of water.
The vice-president of Chocolate de la Cuenca de Altamira (a women’s cooperative in the Dominican Republic), Noemí Crisóstomo; the executive director of Oro Verde (a cocoa cooperative in Peru), Hildebrando Cárdenas Salazar; and importer René Rey, of René Rey Chocolates Ltd. and the BIJA brand; who are the main project partners, confirmed their readiness to support the project and move forward with their specific duties.
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