São Paulo – Since December 18th, 2010, the date in which the first family farming chocolate factory was established in Brazil, around 600 kilograms of fine tablets and bonbons have been produced each week at the site managed by the Family Farming end Economy Cooperative of the Almada Basin and Surrounding Areas (Cooafba). The sweets have 56.6% cocoa in their composition and go by brand “Bahia Cacau”.
The factory, located in Ibicaraí, in southern Bahia, should benefit 300 small farms in 10 cities in the region. They should also have a shop to sell the cooperative products to those visiting the installations.
"The cooperative was born with the objective of stimulating the development of family farming. The ideals are to maintain country men in the country, with dignified income and quality of life," said the president at the cooperative, Maria do Carmo Tourinho.
Aderbal da Silva, one of the cocoa producers in the region, picks around 300 arrobas (units corresponding to 15 kilograms) of cocoa per crop and celebrated the new phase of revenues. "Now we no longer need intermediaries. We deliver our crop directly to the cooperative, which is already making the end product, with greater added value," he said. According to Silva, the profit rose by over 70%. "Before the cooperative the producer kept just 25% or 30% of the value of the cocoa," he said.
Investment of 1.5 million reals (US$ 890,000) was made by the government of the state of Bahia. Annual return is expected to reach 18 million reals (US$ 11 million) when the factory is operating at full capacity. The region can produce 15,000 tonnes of raw material a year
Initially, annual production is estimated to reach 450 tonnes of cocoa paste or liquor, raw material for chocolate, to supply the domestic market. However, there are already plans for sales abroad. Last year, producers in the region participated in the Paris Chocolate Salon. The producers were at an institutional stand established by the Federal Government.
"They are producing excellent quality fine cocoa. They will certainly have market abroad, especially in Europe and the countries of Latin America," said Marco Lessa, the owner of M21, advertising and events agency that is responsible for the promotion of chocolate from the state of Bahia on the foreign market and also for promotion of the Bahia Chocolate Festival.
Lessa considers the Arab countries potential trade partners. "In recent years, [then] president [Luiz Inácio] Lula [da Silva] established significant opportunities in the Arab countries. The partnership would certainly be good for both parties," he said.
According to the businessman, the number of fine or higher quality cocoa producers is rising significantly. "The state of Bahia already represents 70% of national almond production. Now, we are working to become global leaders in fine cocoa," pointed out Lessa. In 2010, Bahia picked 240,000 tonnes of cocoa, which represents growth of 50% over the 2009 crop.
Differential
Fine chocolate presents some differences from common chocolate, which has just 10% to 20% cocoa in its composition and, thus, more sugar. Fine chocolates tend to have over 50% cocoa.
According to the president at Cooafba, the care in the production of fine chocolate involves the entire process, starting from the selection of the seeds.
*Translated by Mark Ament
