Despite perfect climatic conditions and abundant fertile soils, cacao arrived relatively late in Congo DRC. The first trees were planted in the late 19^th century, before Congo was a colony of Belgium. Commercial cacao plantations sprung up along the Congo River in western Congo in the 1920-30s. After independence in 1960 the cacao cultivation slowly disappeared, only to make a comeback some twenty years ago. Today, the center of the cacao industry moved from west to east Congo, especially Kivu and Ituri. This used to be a coffee growing area, but in the late 1990s the coffee plants were affected by a serious disease, and farmers started to look for an alternative. And in came cacao! Silva Cacao, together with a team of specialists, helped to develop specialty cacao in the Ituri Province. Each cacao quality has a unique flavour profile, and a great story about improving the livelihood of smallholder farmers, conservation and protection of forests and wildlife, and increasing safety through mobile banking.

Cacao farmers in Ituri depend on local purchasers to sell their beans. These buyers are not interested in outstanding qualities. Prices for cacao are notoriously low, because farmers have no bargaining power. If the choice is between selling at a low price or disregarding your cacao harvest, the decision is quickly made.

The idea of the Ituri Cacao Project is simple: through improved cacao quality and direct access to premium markets, cacao farmers receive a higher price for their cacao, which will be an important contribution to the family income. Although a simple idea, implementing the project required specific contributions of several project partners:

• Rikolto, an international NGO focused on strengthening farmers;
• ZOTO, a renown specialist in cacao fermentation;
• Cacao Okapi, a cooperative in Ituri with 450+ members and 4 post-harvesting facilities;
• IDH co-funding.

Silva Cacao focuses on quality control, finance, logistics (it is not a piece of cake to transport cacao – or anything else – from Ituri in Congo to Antwerp in Belgium). But our most important role is to work wih the team to get the traceability and quality at the level we want, and introduce Ituri cacao to chocolate makers in Europe and beyond. We are sure chocolate makers will be impressed with the flavours of Ituri cacao, the impeccable clean and homogeneous beans, its fair and sustainable production, and the traceability of the cacao up to farm level.

Congo harbours over half of Africa’s most tropical forests and is the most biologically rich country in Africa. Unfortunately, illegal logging and hunting, and cutting trees to clear land for agriculture are common practices, especially in Eastern Congo where law enforcement is not well organised to say the least.

The farmers of the Okapi cooperative live and work in the vicinity of the Okapi Wildlife Reserve, a UNESCO World Heritage site, known for its large population of endangered okapis. The Wildlife Conservation Society WCS manages a REDD+ project in the Okapi Wildlife Reserve to prevent deforestation and protect the habitat of the okapis and other wildlife. The cacao project works closely with WCS to implement agro-ecological farming methods, making sure the cacao farms form a protective belt around the wildlife reserve. At Silva we are very happy to collaborate with the renown Wildlife Conservation Society, and make one of our dreams come true: deforestation-free cacao.

For many Africans who live in rural areas a visit to a bank is a two-day activity: traveling to the closest branch may take a day, followed by standing in line for a few hours, and traveling home another day. The Ituri Cacao Project partners with Equity Bank to install a mobile phone banking system. This will not only save the farmers a lot of time, it will also give them easy access to savings and credit facilities. And without cash money in their pockets the farmers’ risk of being robbed is much lower. The value of the latter cannot be underestimated in a region rife with bandits.