|
7 August, 2002
Organic cocoa exports in Europe
Salvador (Bahia), Brazil The first load of organic cocoa grown
amid native trees, without agro-chemicals, was recently exported
to Europe by former landless workers from Southern Bahia, in Brazil.
Twenty-two small farmers from Ilhéus and other surrounding cities
in Brazil¹s State of Bahia produced 5.4 tons of high quality cocoa.
The load, exported to Switzerland, was shipped from the State capital,
Salvador. The organic cocoa helps to protect the region¹s Atlantic
Forest remnants.
The export was one of the many positive results of a conservation
project developed by WWF-Brazil in partnership with local NGOs.
Jupará, a local NGO, trained the farmers in organic agriculture
and taught them the advantages of growing cocoa in the forest, a
system known as agroforestry. A major benefit is that growing cocoa
in a natural environment with rich biodiversity reduces the risk
of pest infestation. That is particularly important for the region,
where the witch¹s broom disease fungus destroyed large mono-cultural
cocoa plantations in the last decade.
After learning how to use organic matter to enrich the soil and
other nature-friendly practices, the farmers now call themselves
³agroecologists². The export opens a promising line of business:
selling to ³green markets². The organic cocoa certified by the
Brazilian Instituto Biodinâmico de Desenvolvimento, following international
standards reached a price around 40% higher than cocoa beans cultivated
using non-organic techniques. The small producers sold the first
load through the Co-operative of Agroecological Producers of Southern
Bahia (Coopasb), established in 1999 to trade their products collectively.
The Swiss company Bernrain bought Coopasb¹s produce, paying US$
2,120/ton. The high quality bio-certified cocoa will be used to
make the famous Swiss chocolate and to raise awareness for the threatened
Atlantic Forest. In the last 500 years the forest was reduced to
only 7% of its original size.
To prepare cocoa beans of superior quality, suitable to the fine
chocolate market, the farmers recovered an old technique, rarely
used in regular production there today. Before drying the cocoa
bean, they fermented it during three days. That¹s when the bean
³cooks² for the first time, having its flavour enhanced. ³This sale
to Europe shows that organic agriculture is economically, socially
and environmentally viable,² said Luiz Souto, technical coordinator
of Jupará. ³Here it is also strengthening a regional community-based
co-operative organisation able to manage the whole process, from
production to export², WWF¹s efforts to protect the Atlantic Forest
remnants in Southern Bahia started in 1985, with a donation of funds
to buy land and help implement the Una Biological Reserve - home
to an important population of the endangered Golden-headed Lion
Tamarin , an endemic species.
Studies showed that, in order to survive, the tamarin needs a larger
area of forest. By law, every farm in the region must have between
20% and 30% of its forest conserved. Enforcing agroforestry in 40%
of each property area, Jupará expects to protect around 70% of forested
land. "The Atlantic Forest is one the most threatened ecosystems
in the world. It also has one of the highest biodiversity and endemism
rates. At the same time, about 120 million Brazilians live there.
Agroforestry systems as the one used to produce the organic cocoa
is proving to be the most effective strategy to conciliate human
sustainable activities and nature conservation², said Helena Maria
Maltez, the Atlantic Forest Programme coordinator. ³Agroforestry
systems can connect forested protected areas and allow plant and
animal gene flow, increasing the ability of the population to survive
in the long-term." For further information contact: Rebeca Kritsch,
Tel. +55-61 364-7482, e-mail: rebeca@wwf.org.br
|
