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A CHOCOLATE
FACTORY IN THE
RAINFOREST
When people living in the rainforest have cash, they have a
choice. And for the Awajún, this enabled them to build a
chocolate factory in the middle of the rainforest.
For anyone in the chocolate making biz, transforming raw cacao to chocolate
in humid conditions is not just challenging, it’s a risk. You need stable
Published: 14 Feb 2023
Type:
Stories
Region:
Awajún
Theme:
Cash Transfers
conditions to ferment beans, world class equipment to process and an expert
Livelihoods
team of producers to transform cacao into the final product we all know and
Rainforest
Food
People
love. So the idea of chocolate being made deep in tropical rainforest? Near
impossible.
But not for Wilson.
Against all odds, Wilson Barturen and the people of Urakuza built a chocolate
factory in the heart of the Amazon. Not just because chocolate is delicious but
because for the Awajún, chocolate is a lifeline.
The factory opened in June ‘22 and began producing chocolate bars, cacao
juice, ice cream and liquor. In the first six months, 15 tonnes of cacao was
processed and sold. A growers association, Pamuk Bakau, was also formed
involving 100 local growers in order to get better prices for their product and
have commercial power in numbers.
“There is great potential and we are planning to bring it to the next level”
– Wilson Barturen, Cool Earth
Sustainable business ventures, like growing and processing cacao,
strengthens communities by creating financial security. That financial security
ensures that people living in the rainforest, such as those in Urakuza, are more
resilient. Their resilience is the most effective way of reducing the vulnerability
of the ecosystems in which they live. Cash creates unlimited ways to protect
indigenous and local lives, biodiversity, rainforest health and the health of our
planet. Wherever it is spent it meets the needs of the best protectors of
rainforest on Earth.
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