Chocolate production facility to benefit farmers

A CHOCOLATE production facility is on the cards for a Madang-based farmers’ cooperative that will produce “Kalibobo Chocolate” for the local market.
Formed in mid-2018, Back to Base Cultivation (BBC) is a communal enterprise made up of members of the Present Truth Ministries Papua New Guinea based in Madang.
The co-op pooled together 200 farmers with products ranging from livestock and fresh market produce to cash crops.
Cocoa is one of the cash crops in PNG that supports many livelihoods, mainly throughout the New Guinea Islands and Mamose and generates a fifth of agricultural gross domestic product.
With the aim to develop its local farming members and add value to their products, B2B is undertaking several initiatives; one of which was to develop onshore processing options instead of exporting commodities or raw materials.
BBC board chairman Richmond Yawi said Papua New Guineans were proud people and would support local initiatives.
Yawi said the chocolate would be produced locally by farmers and profits would go back to the people, creating jobs and generating income for the Government as well.
“BBC is managed as a company and, at the end we want to make a profit, which will benefit our members and potential investors,” he said.
“The investors will help the local economy in Madang and the nation.”
Farmers get K4 /kg on the local market; BBC anticipates that a 100-gram Kalibobo Chocolate product can be sold at a multifold of that amount while still generating a significant amount of profit per chocolate product that will be shared with the cocoa farmers.
“We aim to export our crops directly as well, but by reserving a part of our harvest to process locally, we’ll have a more balanced portfolio that will benefit our farmers and their families,” Yawi said.
B2B hoped to engage around 20 people in the chocolate production facility, preferably women, and pay them above the minimum wage.
According to the European Commission’s value chain analysis, the quality of beans decreases due to factors within the downstream processing activities of fermentation and drying, and coupled with logistical difficulties, and these were major constraints for the cocoa industry.