Agostoni Partnership - Peru

PERU More than a strategic partner

Since the 1980s, ICAM’s two-fold commitment has involved not only studying and identifying the finest cocoa plantations, but also creating solid, lasting relationships with the self-employed farmers and local communities.

PERU

The cocoa The production of cocoa is one of the main farming activities in the country, as well as a source of income for 90,000 families. According to the 2020 cocoa barometer report, over 125,000 tonnes of cocoa are grown in Peru yearly, with crops spread over an area of 160,000 hectares (395,368 Acres).

Partnerships with farmers ICAM has established a direct relationship with local cooperatives.

In working along with the local cooperatives, ICAM’s main aim is to improve the quality of life of their members and boost profits by improving the quality of the cocoa.

The criteria all the partnership activities revolve around are environmental sustainability, able to guarantee the conservation of the existing eco-system, and social and economic sustainability, able to contribute to the wellbeing of the cooperative members.

ICAM’s Strategy: partnership with APROCAM In the Imaza District virtually all cocoa farmers belong to the Awajun ethnic group, the native communities with whom ICAM is working.

APROCAM is an association of small cocoa and coffee farmers in the Amazonas region, who founded the cooperative in order to sell and export their produce directly to foreign customers.

Aprocam’s mission is to enhance the Criollo cocoa from the Amazon region: there is an enormous potential for this native cocoa bean which has been growing wild for thousands of years.

They want to position the cocoa on the foreign market, for example through partnership agreements like the one they have signed with ICAM. The idea is for their *Bagua cocoa to be recognized exclusive and native to the area, so Aprocam’s intention is to distinguish its cocoa with a brand name specifying Amazonas or Bagua.

The relationship with ICAM is of a strategic nature and Aprocam sees ICAM not just as customer who buys cocoa but as an ally, a partner with whom to develop projects.

They work together in pursuit of their objectives, and to share benefits from their projects, such as those regarding research and classification of the finest cocoa clones. *Bagua cocoa is an ancient, sought- after cocoa variety. A superior quality chocolate with an authentic flavor is obtained from this special cocoa

Sustainability: cocoa clones In Peru, the cocoa trees are selected to copy the original plantation and thus to create a new plantation or to modify the existing plantation by renewing the cocoa plants: to this end, a selection is made of the mother plants which are cocoa clones with the most resistance, highest productivity and best quality.

Their fermentation system is organized using cases placed at different heights that make it easier for workers to shift the cocoa from one level to the next, depending on the amount with which we are working.

The process of fermentation guarantees the quality of the cocoa beans and allows APROCAM to obtain the organoleptic characteristics for which they aim.

In the post- harvesting center, the cocoa beans are fermented and dried to obtain the best quality possible.