Producers in Ecuador

“Tesoro Escondido” is an isolated community in the Choco region (a pristine and threatened forest region in northwestern Ecuador), with about 50 families. We are partnering with proyecto Washu, an Ecuadorian NGO, and the University of Sussex in England as part of a conservation project. This project encompasses the protection of the primary forest and the habitat of an endemic primate species, the brown-headed spider monkey.

The commercialization of cocoa grown by the community as part of this project, makes it possible to ensure and even increase the income of families in the area, without excessive exploitation of natural resources.

Bouga Cacao began buying cocoa from the community for the first time in 2014. Our first partner was Samuel de l’hacienda Bosque de Oro who was in charge of setting up a quality control system and training, a very important point.
Our priority has always been and will always be the consolidation of our cooperation with the community and respect for their internal organization. We obtained the AB certification for the first 5 families in 2015 with the help of an intern from ENSAT (Ecole Nationale Supérieure d’Agriculture de Toulouse) on site.
By following this link, you can access a short video that flies over a part of the project area with a drone in order to improve the map base.

The cooperative “Fortaleza del Valle“ already existed in this form since 2006. It was founded by bringing together four existing cocoa producer associations. This cooperative, which works very well, markets very good quality “Nacional Arriba” cocoa and has AB certification and fair trade certification according to Flo-Cert (Max Havelaar).