Entry: Robert Peck, World Cocoa Foundation
I recently had the opportunity to travel to northern Peru to the San Martin province. From Lima we took a one hour flight to Tarapoto and, with Enrique Arevalo and Luis Zúñiga from Instituto de Cultivo Tropicales (ICT) and Marcelo Núñez of the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA), went deep into the Huallaga Valley into a town know as Juanjui. It was my first time visiting with farmers in this part of the country, a region that in the 80’s and early 90’s was known as a collection hub for coca production. This illicit crop brought to the region violence, death, corruption and crippled the moral values of the community.
This trip has been one of my professional highlights, as I was able to evidence a community of farmers missing basic needs (potable water, sewage system, advanced or technical educational opportunities) but proud of their region and with hope that a new way of life has arrived. The valley which has fertile lands and generous water supply is nowadays well known for growing diverse crops: oranges, cotton, corn and cocoa. It is exciting to see the role that cocoa is now playing in the local economy and how farmers are interested in increasing their knowledge on best practices to improve farm productivity, looking at multiple sources of incomes and in organizing into cooperatives in order to have more favorable marketing conditions and even testing the international markets.
During the trip I visited a group of people who are going through a cycle of farmer training, organized by ICT and funded by ACCESO (Andean regional program funded by USAID/OAS/IICA and WCF). I want to share with you parts of my conversation with Royer Mozombite. Royer’s family (parents, sister, wife and newly born son) live on a 2 hectare farm – “chacra”. He is a new cocoa farmer and currently also grows plantains and other fruit plants and vegetables for household consumption. Products of his farm can only be brought to the town in sacks on the back of horses, a journey that can last 1 ½ hours when the weather and “road” is in good conditions (during the raining season the trip lasts 3+ hours). Royer has participated in all 7 sessions of the Farmer Field School program and has 6 more sessions to attend. He mentioned that from day one he has implemented in his chacra all of the skills and techniques learned and in such short period of time his cocoa trees which were abandoned have a new appearance and lots of pods hanging from the branches. Royer also mentioned that even his father, who is stubborn and had lost faith in the old trees, is now helping with the new practices and encouraged with the early results.
Photo: Royer Mozombite
It is encouraging for us at the WCF to see evidence on how cocoa plays a key role in the lives of families, not only providing income for their livelihoods but also a honest, safe and tranquil way of life. As Royer mentioned, “we used to have a fake lifestyle, now we work in our farms and have the opportunity to enjoy life with our families”. Traveling to places like Juanjui, is definitely the best reality check and a call to all of us to continue our commitment with farmers and providing them with the tools to become more successful.