Cocoa producer - Import export

Region and Country Markham District, Morobe Province, Papua New Guinea Story The Markham River valley is a wide, sparsely populated area that encompasses a considerable amount of level agricultural land in the lower reaches. Once an area exclusively dedicated to cocoa plantations, it has also been developed for peanut cultivation and cattle farming. Markham Organic Cocoa organizes exports for smallholder cocoa and coffee farmers in the area. The producers cultivate organic cocoa by default but are not certified by an official body. There are 35 small local fermentaries to which these farmers are affiliated. By exporting through Markham Organic, farmers share directly in the profits of their sales without going through middlemen. The first overseas export ever of these farmers was purchased by Daarnhouwer and was widely covered by local media as an example of how farmers can improve their income by becoming a part of local farmer organizations.

Region and Country Dak Lak Province, Central Highlands, Vietnam Story Even though cacao was introduced to Vietnam in the late 1800’s, it wasn’t until the 21st century that it started to be cultivated on a more professional level. Cocoa is currently grown in Vietnam by more than 12,000 farmers who typically cultivate on plots of 1 to 3 hectares. Coconut and fruit trees such as pomelo, banana and longan are also grown on the plots. Anh Em Cacao Co. was founded in 2017 by two school friends – Truong Minh Thang and Nguyen Duy Thong – who share a passion for cacao and chocolate. After realizing that the quality of the cocoa produced in Dak Lak could be improved, they did research on microbial biodiversity and post harvesting processes to optimize the flavour potential of the beans. This cocoa would become the basis for some of the award winning chocolate Truong and Nguyen started to produce through their brand Tbros.