Chocolate standards: Researchers flag transition to responsible, high-quality cocoa production in Peru

20 Oct 2020 --- An international research team with the University of Göttingen in Germany has published an overview article on the transition to responsible, high-quality cocoa production in Peru. The study comes at a time when worldwide demand for ingredients that meet higher environmental and social standards has risen sharply.

Consumers often have to make ethically questionable decisions: products may be available to the global market through child labor, starvation wages or environmental destruction, notes the research.

“Cocoa is an essential commodity in Peru, and there is national interest to promote the uniqueness of Peruvian cocoa,” Professor Teja Tscharntke, from the agroecology group at the University of Göttingen, tells FoodIngredientsFirst.

“One of a kind” choco cooperative
The researchers have been collaborating with Norandina, in Piura, northern Peru, the first small farmer-owned coffee co-op to have a certified lab in the country. It is also believed that it is the only one of its kind in all of South America. 

“Norandino is a prime example of a cooperative with high sustainability standards promoting thousands of smallholders in a fair way with a clear anti-discrimination focus and high social and ecological targets,” Tscharntke continues.  

“In our project, we are mainly focusing on the role of organic cocoa production in agroforestry systems for maintaining biodiversity in a mega diversity hotspot. We are particularly interested in showing the contribution of wildlife to sustainable agriculture,” she continues. 

“Using exclosure experiments, we are quantifying the contribution of birds and bats to biological pest control, final yield and income of the farmer,” adds Tscharntke. 

In previous research in Indonesia, the researchers showed that birds and bats could promote cocoa yield by 30 percent, thereby significantly increasing the farmers’ profit.  Cocoa is an essential commodity in Peru, and there is a national interest to promote the uniqueness of Peruvian cocoa.

The work has been published as a “perspective” piece in the journal Trends in Ecology and Evolution. 

Peruvian cocoa history 
Chocolate is made from cocoa beans, and because cocoa is originally from Peru, using indigenous varieties means a premium price can be charged. 

A large cooperative for smallholder farmers in northern Peru stands for social and ecological improvements with the help of organic and fairtrade certification and the cultivation of native varieties in species-rich cocoa agroforestry systems. 

Shade trees in traditional cocoa agroforestry systems improve cocoa growth conditions and promote biodiversity, for instance, of birds. 

However, these trees are increasingly being removed to increase productivity, and even though moderate, partial shade does not significantly reduce productivity. 

In addition, proven high-yielding varieties are imported, although there are unique indigenous varieties in Peru that may be associated with a particular trade advantage. 

Researchers call for more support
Alongside the researchers, Norandino is committed to fighting all forms of discrimination. The result is ecologically certified and fairtrade chocolate of a high standard, which achieves up to twice the regular market price, protects smallholder farmers against market fluctuations and moves towards the greater use of local cocoa bean varieties in the future.

First author Dr. Bea Maas from the University of Vienna says: “Large cooperatives that stand for high social, economic and ecological standards in production should receive more support.”

According to researchers Carolina Ocampo-Ariza and Tscharntke from the University of Göttingen, such exemplary initiatives that benefit smallholder farmers’ livelihoods while maximizing nature conservation should be “the focus of interdisciplinary research now more than ever before.”

By Elizabeth Green