Toute l'actualitéIn Haiti, the economic situation remains severely deteriorated following Hurricane Matthew in September 2016. Destroyed largely by the disaster, the cocoa trees did not produce beans for eighteen consecutive months. At the beginning of May, the first harvest since the hurricane finally took place.
First harvest since the hurricane
A splendid illustration of Nature's resilience: eighteen months after Hurricane Matthew, the Haitian cocoa trees that remained standing completed their regeneration. In the Nippes department, they provided their very first beans since the disaster this month. Our partner in the field, Kaleos, was thus able to harvest 15 tons of exportable beans alongside local farmers. The second annual harvest period is scheduled for next October.
Cocoa production: a fair and virtuous sector
First taken from the trees, the beans are then deboned and coated in banana leaves, whose enzymes accelerate the natural fermentation process. Then comes the sorting stage, which is carried out by the women. Finally, the beans are pooled in local cooperatives and bought by Kaleos at a fair price, before being exported to European chocolate makers such as Carré Suisse.
In the south of Haiti, Kaleos is thus actively helping the economic recovery and creating jobs: trained in organic farming and the inherent demand for quality, local farmers are able to obtain an additional income from their production that enables them to finance their children's schooling.
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