Cocoa Hunting in Papua New Guinea

Back into November with a bump and so many reflections on last weeks trip to Papua New Guinea! I had the privilege of visiting the Autonomous Region of Bougainville and the East Sepik region, an area where we have worked with cocoa from for our Papua New Guinea beans.

So many highlights but the Chocolate Cupping Ceremony hosted by the Yekere Co-operative is one that will stay with me for a long time.

Modeled on the format for Coffee it’s something we practice ourselves turning each batch of cocoa into chocolate through a controlled process to understand the character and potential of the beans.

In this instance 50 farmers from across the East Sepik and West Sepik region had submitted their cocoa to be made into chocolate and independently evaluated.

The results were amazing. So much flavour, so few defective notes, so much consistent quality.

This in a country where the stages of cocoa production are heavily controlled, and where they have a prevailing tendency to use wood fires for the drying process resulting in a smoky flavour.

What should have been a competition to award winners and runners up turned into a celebration of everyone’s cocoa and the chocolate that it became.

In so many instances Cocoa farmers do not have a relationship with or knowledge of the chocolate their cocoa becomes. The supply chain and process seems to be intentionally opaque and knowledge is withheld or manipulated.

This experience made the many hours of travel more than worth it. To share the cocoa and the chocolate with so many farmers was such a privilege. It is not a surprise the co-operative achieved the first farmer based export licence to be awarded!

I truly believe when farmers have power we all benefit, in quality, flavour and in enabling sustainable practices. 

This occasion also marked the awarding of the first Micro-lot Exporters licence in the country, for a community where cocoa is so strong and cultivated with such pride it was an inspiring experience to see how much drive there is to move forward collectively.

I can not take credit for the amazing photos - they are courtesy of our fabulous photographer Aiden from International Trade Centre who organised the trip and have been working with cocoa farmers in the Pacific region on this amazing empowerment program.

Thank you everyone involved in making this change happen and for hosting us so warmly!