India's cocoa discovering new processing avenues, markets in Switzerland

India’s organic and conventional cocoa has been gaining ground in Switzerland over the last four years with Indian Organic Farmers Producer Company Ltd (IOFPCL) and Switzerland-based Chocolate Stella exploring new markets there and training farmers in cocoa processing.
The two companies are particularly focussed on value addition and export of organic and conventional cocoa to Switzerland on a long-term basis.
“Earlier India had poor processing methods of cocoa and farmers from Kerala used to process it themselves through traditional practices,” Joykutty Vincent, director,
IOFPCL, Kannur, Kerala, informed FnB News in a chat over telephone.
Vincent explained that in their effort to modernise cocoa processing, prominent farmers from Kerala were trained by experts from Chocolate Stella on quality improvement of cocoa and chocolates.
“The IOFPCL has taken an initiative to train farmers by the way of collecting cocoa from them and processing it in a collective way. The company has undertaken various experiments on fermentation and drying and good methodologies in processing to cater quality cocoa in the market.”
The training programme has been attended by over 1,000 farmers till date. The participation is expected to increase in the current year.
IOFPCL has been associated with Chocolate Stella since 2009 for manufacturing cocoa, used in preparing dark chocolates, which has immense demand in the global market.
Vincent reiterated that the company’s intention was to provide assistance to the farmers to help them gain addition benefits that they deserved by the way of reducing the involvement of intermediaries in the value chain and facilitating Indian cocoa in the international market.
About the market, Vincent said that there was a slump in the cocoa export market last year, however, the market was still positive for all cocoa farmers with the increasing domestic demand for the item due to higher consumption. He added that care should be taken while processing cocoa beans and be done in a professional manner, thus meeting all the requirements needed to obtain the real cocoa.
According to reports, the need for a comprehensive government policy with emphasis on sustainable growth for promotion of cocoa industry was realised last fiscal.
Vincent confirmed that the company had taken various initiatives not only in South India, but also in north-eastern states, with NGOs working with farmers and helping them obtain maximum benefits and also promoting exports.
“The farmers were paid Rs 105 to Rs 150 per kg in 2009-10 after our intervention as against Rs 78 per kg in 2008-2009.”

Source: http://www.fnbnews.com/article/detnews.asp?articleid=29911&sectionid=1