Wild cocoa in bars

It is not easy to find, concealed deep in the Brazilian jungle on the banks of the Amazon. But it's certainly something worth looking for -as Hachez, a chocolate producer with a long tradition, discovered in 2005, when it began using and marketing wild cocoa from Brazil. The Regenwald-Institut e.V. in Freiburg (Germany), GIZ (former GTZ) and other partners are supporting their bean business. The partnership is linked to a German-Brazilian tropical rainforest programme being conducted by GIZ that is currently implementing protective and usage concepts with forward-looking planning strategies that aim at conserving natural resources and improving living conditions.

Similarly, the various components seek to protect the rainforest, and strengthen certification and improved training for the local cocoa-gatherers. They pick the ripe fruit by hand, knock it open and collect the precious beans that they then ferment and dry. The first drying plants have already been built locally. After drying, the wild cocoa is shipped directly to the Hachez plant in Bremen, without intermediaries, for further processing. The first bars of wild cocoa appeared in German store in April 2008.

On behalf of Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development