Project: Finished Products for Local Markets

Goal

Train growing communities to make and sell cacao-based products for their local markets.

Benefits

• Increases Income: 3-5x more income from cacao than fair trade premiums alone.
• Empowers Women: providing comprehensive training in food entrepreneurship. Based on typical divisions of labor between men and women, this training equips women to lead value-added activities in their local community.
• Builds the Local Economy: the vast majority of cacao farming communities export cacao as a cheap commodity only to import more expensive chocolate as a luxury product! This training allows them to enjoy locally-grown and made cacao-based products - along with the corresponding income.

Overview

Many cacao-farming communities have the desire and talent to transform their agricultural produce into foods, but they have not received training to do so. This puts them at a tremendous disadvantage versus global competition.  

We work with growing communities to design the training they want and need to make and sell cacao-based products that appeal to their local market.

Communities

Koptan Masagena - South Sulawesi, Indonesia (Q2 2023)