The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Rodolfo Zea Navarro, highlighted the announcement made by the National Federation of Cocoa Growers (Fedecacao), which also reported that when comparing with the previous cocoa year (2019-2020), there was an increase of 9.2% in production, registering 64,281 tons of production at that time.
In addition, this was the highest figure in the last 20 years.
(Fine cacao has Latin American DNA).
In the same way, the July-September quarter of 2021 registered a production of 13,830 tons, compared to 10,743 in the same year of 2020, which shows a growth of 29%.
“We must highlight the judicious and committed work of the cocoa farmers of our country, who provide us with quality cocoa with a responsible production with the environment, which has been recognized worldwide”, said the head of the agricultural portfolio.
Zea recalled that the Cocoa Renewal Plan, which for this year was launched on April 28 in the municipality of Carmen de Chucurí (Santander), aims to renew nearly 10,000 hectares of unproductive cocoa crops in the whole country, that contribute to the economic reactivation of the national cocoa sector and that contribute to improve the income of the more than 52 thousand families that depend on this crop.
(The Cocoa Effect shows the fruits of its first year).
To strengthen the Plan this year, the Government allocated $ 20,500 million, with which the Ministry of Agriculture, together with Fedecacao, are advancing a 4,000-hectare renovation project, which has resources of $ 7,500 million. further, the Special Line of Credit for Cocoa Renewal was launched, which seeks to leverage loans for $ 13,000 million, with which producers can obtain liquidity and reform their crops.
“Today, we have 17,106 producers linked to the Contract Agriculture strategy, with estimated total sales of $ 171 billion pesos and 52 business partners. It is also important to highlight the approval in the Congress of the Republic of the International Cocoa Agreement that allows Colombia to enter the International Cocoa Organization (ICCO): with this approval, the entry to the highest body of the bean worldwide, we will have more opportunities to advance in competitiveness ”, he pointed.
Regarding cocoa exports, which reports a growth in external sales of beans and preparations, which grew by 12.8%, with sales of USD 91.8 million from January to September 2021.
Likewise, Colombian cocoa has been the winner of the International Cocoa Awards in 2010, 2011, 2015 and 2019 with cocoas produced in Arauca, Nariño and Santander, and that, for this year’s edition of the international contest, the country participates with a cocoa sample that was produced in the department of Córdoba.
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