How cocoa is turning Isidor’s life around

By ROSELYN ELLISON
AFTER leaving school in Grade Three, Isidor Kilala decided to try his hand on agriculture.
“You don’t need a degree or a diploma to bake a cake or turn cocoa beans into cocoa powder. It is all about what you love to do. And with commitment and determination, you can do it no matter what.”
Isidor, 47, is from Ramalmal village in Reimber-Livuan, Gazelle, East New Britain. He is the eldest in a family of seven – five brothers and two sisters. He is married and has five children.
He moved from his village to his block at Ivon-Gore in Sinivit, Pomio, in 1996. He has been living there all his life.
He had to leave school at Grade Three because of some family problem. Afterwards, he and his family moved to settle in Ivon-Gore to plant cocoa and other crops.
He found out recently that there are some other things which can be made from cocoa.
“All these years I had been planting, harvesting and selling cocoa, I never knew that there are other things that can be made from cocoa.
“In 2020, our ward member James Vevut went to the Sinivit headquarters and saw people grinding coffee beans. He thought maybe we should do the same to cocoa so we can produce drinks.”
Vevut visited one of the female rural development (division of agriculture and livestock) officers and told her about his idea of turning cocoa into drinks. She agreed to help with the training. Isidor joined other farmers to attend the training.
He was also asked to bring along one kg of dried cocoa beans. During the training, they put the cocoa dried beans in a blending machine. It gave them cocoa powder.
“This was my first trial but I never gave up. I went home and tried blending the cocoa beans again. New ideas popped into my mind.”
He bought a small power generator to help with the processing of the cocoa beans to produce cocoa powder and butter.
He also started to bake chocolate cake and cassava cake.
“With the skills and knowledge I received from the little training, I now can make other products from cocoa.”
Instead of buying a packet or tin of milo from a shop, he is selling a one kg cocoa powder packet for only K7.
His cassava and chocolate cakes cost K1 and a container of cocoa butter is K10.
One can make a cup of hot cocoa from the powder and also use cocoa butter.
From the money he earns, he is able to pay his children’s school and project fees.
He thanks his wife and children for supporting and assisting him.
“I am now planning to venture into making peanut butter too.”
Isidor, the Grade Three dropout, is putting his creative and imaginative mind to good use, using his cocoa farm to benefit his family.

“ You don’t need a degree or a diploma to bake a cake or turn cocoa beans into cocoa powder. It is all about what you love to do.”