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Cocoa
Like coffee, cocoa can be grown in relative harmony with the natural forest. Historically, cocoa farms served as refuges for a wide range of animals, including howler monkeys, ocelots and parrots. However, with the promise of high yields, native cocoa has been rapidly being replaced by a low-quality hybrid that grows in open fields. The forest clearing and agrochemical use required by full-sun cocoa hybrids has increased erosion and run-off, which reduce soil fertility and contribute to water contamination and health problems. Fifty years ago, Ecuador led the world in the production of high quality cocoa. However, a series of government decisions resulted in the decline of the country’s cocoa industry. As a result, Ecuador lost a major source of foreign exchange, while small producers lost their access to overseas markets and a major source of income.
The Rainforest Alliance is demonstrating that it is possible for smallholder cocoa farmers to increase their production, quality and income while protecting the environment and cocoa communities. Along with Conservación y Desarrollo (Conservation and Development), our partner group in Ecuador, we have been working for almost 10 years with small farmer cooperatives to develop and test guidelines for environmentally and socially responsible cocoa production and processing techniques. The standards maintain critical conservation areas, reduce pressures to convert more forest for the low-quality cocoa hybrid and provide social and economic benefits to local communities. As a result of our efforts, more than 2,000 cocoa growers, in five communities just south of Guayaquil, have been organized into cooperatives that share processing and drying facilities. All of their fine aroma cocoa is grown without the use of pesticides and under the shaded canopy of the rainforest.
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