Joycedel Macias looks at cacao as the beans of change that transformed her life from an idle housewife to a budding entrepreneur.
Macias is just one of the 35 workers at Rehoboth, an association of farmers engaged in producing, processing and marketing of cacao beans in Davao del Norte.
“I got married at the age of 18 and used to work in a grocery store with low salary, and yet, no assurance of renewal when contract expires. My husband was also jobless so we could hardly make both ends meet,” she said.
Things changed when she was hired by Rehoboth Association as it did not only give her regular source of income, but also the confidence and inspiration in helping other members.
“I could hardly imagine transacting business with buyers and government officials but the demands of my job prompted me to overcome my fears and established network with them,” said Macias who is now the association’s vice chairperson.
Rehoboth (pronounced as Re-ho-boo) means “well of abundant blessings,” is a religious fellowship turned into an association of cacao growers adopting the commodity’s value chain from tree-to-bar.
The association tends a 15-hectare cacao nursery and plantation in New Corella and houses an organic- fertilizer production and processing building in Panabo City all in Davao del Norte. Through its Cacao Estate Management Scheme (CEMS), the association has forged partnership with other farmers and landowners to develop and maintain cacao farms.
“We are buying wet and dried beans at a competitive price, as we are into fair trade and don’t want to shortchange our farmers,” Rehoboth Chairman Lolita Pinoon said.
Apart from their main buying station for cacao beans in Panabo City, Davao del Norte, it has opened two buying stations in Calinan, Davao City, and Santa Maria, Davao
Occidental.
Currently they are supplying cacao nibs to Taiwan for 4 tons every 10 days and intend to double the volume as their market is in need of at least 8 tons.
“Our Taiwanese buyer assured us that they will absorb our product even if we will double the volume due to the growing demand for cacao nibs,” Pinoon said.
Cacao nibs are roasted cacao beans separated from the husk and broken into smaller pieces and could be healthier than dark chocolate since some nutrients are lost during processing. From November 2015 to January this year, Rehoboth has grossed P3 million from cacao production, processing and marketing of cacao beans.
Promise in cacao
Although Rehoboth has come a long way in cacao enterprise, it did not come easy when they started their cacao production in 2012.
The idea to venture into cacao production was prompted with the need to provide their members’ source of income. “We cannot keep on praying with empty stomachs. Our members must have a viable source of income for their daily sustenance,” Pinoon said.
“I was also wondering why some of our members could not send their children to school despite owning hectares of lands. Something should be done to make their farms productive,” Pinoon said.
Cacao production turned out to be a viable option for Rehoboth since it does not require huge investments. “We also learned from the Department of Agriculture [DA] that there’s a growing demand for cacao beans both in the local and export markets. Technology and expertise is also available as we have members trained as cacao masters,” she added.
She, however, admitted that convincing their members to engage in cacao production did not come easy, as most of them are not used to taking risk and the just let their cacao trees grow on its own.
But Pinoon kept her faith and mobilized their in-house cacao experts to demonstrate the appropriate technologies such as planting, pruning, sleeving and harvesting. Decades old cacao trees were also rehabilitated to increase its yield.
Their efforts eventually paid off as it has increased their yield with improved quality of beans. “Most of our cacao trees produce beans of inferior quality, but, with proper technologies, its size has increased with better quality,” Pinoon said.
With improved quality of their cacao beans, Rehoboth has established market for their produce at the same time ventured value-adding activities, such as chocolate and tablea processing.
To maintain the quality of their products and to cope with the increasing demands of their institutional buyers, the Rehoboth felt the need for better facilities, but could not immediately do it, due to financial constraints.
Timely assistance
Pinoon, along with other officers, sought the assistance of various agencies to help boost their cacao enterprise.
“Our chairman [Pinoon] has trained me on how to transact with government agencies. She even told me that I have to dress up properly to appear credible,” Macias said.
She did not expect that she could easily deal with government agencies and that the assistance will be granted to them on time, enabling them to cope with the demands of their growing markets.
One of the agencies that poured in valuable assistance to their association is the DA-High Value Crops Development Program (HVCDP) in Region 11.
“The requirements to avail ourselves of DA-HVCDP 11 assistance were not complicated that even lowly worker like me can easily comply. We also received their immediate response and delivered our request on time,” Macias said.
Pinoon said with the timely assistance of DA-HVCDP 11 they were able to keep up with the volume and quality required by their institutional buyers.
“The cacao roaster and bean cracker has multiplied the production volume of our cacao nibs from 100 kilos to 800 kilos in just one and a half day,” she said.
A total of P1.17 million worth of facilities and equipment had been provided by DA-HVCDP 11, which include processing center, fermentation boxes and processing equipment, such as cacao roaster, cacao grinder and cacao cracker, including banana chipper for their banana-chips production.
Pinoon said the fermentation facility is a big boost to their production of fermented cacao beans, which can fetch premium price as high as P200 per kilo of dried beans. The processing center on the hand expanded their value-adding activities, such as tablea and chocolate processing.
“With this [processing center] we can now fast track our application for FDA [Food and Drug Administration] accreditation and hopefully enter the export market for our processed cacao products,” Pinoon said.
DA-HVCDP 11 regional coordinator Melanie Provido said Rehoboth’s track record in cacao production made them worthy of government assistance.
“From its humble beginnings as a small association engage in rehabilitating unproductive cacao farms, its leaders and members were able to stand on their own and transformed Rehoboth into a dynamic cacao entrepreneurs in the region,” Provido said. She is optimistic that the government assistance provided to Rehoboth will not only boost its capability to produce quality cacao products but will also help generate more employment in the community.