Left: Left Below: Maximo Pincay - Ecua- dorian Cocoa Farmer and father of three on his farm that Kennedy’s visited in Quinindé Below: Pacari is one of many
new and successful chocolate producers starting up in Ecuador
“…We want our farmers to sell their cocoa not as a commodity, but as a premium and sustainable cocoa.”
XLG: Of course. Now that we are at 320k MT per year, we still have around 600k hectares of cocoa, with a proportion of circa 50-50 between CCN-51 and Nacional (fine aroma cocoa), which means our overall average yield is still low - around 0.5 MT per hectare. This is mainly due to poor technical methods and cultural practices in the plantations. The cocoa boom was mainly thanks to the CCN-51, but people just planted it and thought that that was it, because the old plantations were managed that way – as a simple harvest crop.
A well-managed plantation can get 2 MT per hectare, and if it is on better soils, there have been some cases of 4-5MT per hectare! So, if we do things right, this means a proper transfer of knowledge to the farmers, a proper loan policy, and access to irrigation, we should bring that average up to around 1.2-1.5 MT per hectare. If we do things right, we can match Ghana, which is the second largest cocoa producer with 800k MT, without planting any more trees than what we have right now! We are confident we can reach this, we have the proper tools for it, and since February 2019 President Lenin Moreno signed the PMC (Plan de Mejora Competitiva) of cocoa, which intends to reach this goal in 10 years.
AK:That’s admirable goal. I am sure you could do that. What about the chocolate industry in Ecuador? Can you give me an idea of some of the players here – import, export or any useful information?
XLG: So far, we are mainly exporters of cocoa beans, and small percentage of beans stay in the country to be processed, and of course we want to change this. To reach this, we have to increase productivity and have a larger volume of beans so that it makes sense for the bigger players to industrialize the beans here. Regarding international players, both Nestlé and Ferrero have been here for decades, however since 2012 we have seen other big names wanting entry to the country, such as Ekom, Olam and even more recently, Cargill and Barry Callebaut. At the same time, we have seen a surge of local craft chocolate, with premium brands that are already internationally recognised and some of them you have been able to meet during your visit. These brands don’t have
50 Kennedy’s Confection January 2020
the same financial muscle as the big players to invest in marketing, and here is where we think you might help us Angus, in letting the world know; that if we have the best cocoa in the world, then we certainly must have the best chocolate.
AK:Ha yes well I always try and help all the time! The chocolate and cocoa industry needs to move on as you say, and many of our readers already are playing important roles in this. Can you tell a bit about Cocoa farming in Ecuador - are you happy with it at the moment and are there some things you would like to change?
XLG: There are certainly things I am happy about Angus- one of them, for sure, is this year’s results in the Salon du Chocolat in Paris. Using genetics from INIAP, our agronomical research institute, which is the world leader in cocoa research – our Ecuadorian farmers took all first places in cocoa quality at the event.
There are things I am less happy about. The main thing being that cocoa is traded in the stock market which is supposed to be more transparent, but there has been a lot of speculation in the last years. The world’s cocoa market is of around 4.5 million MT
per year, nonetheless around 15 million is traded which creates unjustified drops in prices that hit farmers very hard. We want our farmers to sell their cocoa not as a commodity, but as a premium and sustainable cocoa. Ecuador has zero deforestation, we have laws that protect workers, offering them 15% of profits. We use almost no pesticides at all, so we think consumers should be aware and demand Ecuadorian cocoa in the chocolate they consume.
AK: I agree with you there, it’s a thick nut to crack. How much on average does a cocoa family receive in earnings a year?
XLG: Well, this will of course depend on the price. For about three months it has been at about $2,400-$2,600 per MT, but in the past three years it has been at around $1,800-$2,000. But beyond that, there is also a big difference between a Nacional and a CCN-51 farmer.
KennedysConfection.com
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