CABRUCA CACAO PROJECT – A FairCarbon generating GreenFutures project
The goal of the Cabruca Cacao Project Development is to help preserve and reforest Bahia’s critical rain forest through cacao production, which will drive sustainable agro-forestry projects, support the Mata Atlântica’s rich biodiversity and create jobs for the thousands of unemployed in rural Bahia.
Currently, traditional cabruca cacao production does not provide the necessary income for rural farmers to make a living in a society, such as Brazil, with an increasing standard of living. The alternative for rural farmers is clear their land of trees and raise cattle. This is one of the top contributors to deforestation of the forest of Bahia. An supplemental source of income is necessary if the deforestation of the Bahian rain forest is to stop. Carbon credits generated from the forest preservation provides rural farmers the necessary supplemental income to incentivize them to not cut down the majestic trees remaining on their land.
The social aim is to help create a stronger—and greener—rural economy. Forest cacao would build employment through local processing; it would also encourage the development of other forms of eco-commerce, such as forest restoration and ecotourism.
Forest cacao would have a political goal as well. By producing its own organic, eco-friendly chocolate products, Brazil could begin the process of transforming consumer demand for such products into an international donor base for restoring not just cabruca, but the Mata Atlântica as a whole. Potentially, once proven successful, spreading this model of forest management to other counties.
Today, most of southern Bahia’s scant remaining forest is under development pressure of one kind or another. Moist, fertile soils make the hilly region near Ilhéus ideal for growing cacao; most of the natural forest there has already been converted to cabrucas. Woodlands and sandy savannas along the coast, called restingas, are severely threatened by beachfront development.
The hot, humid, low-lying forests of the southern coastal plain, called tabuleiro forests, are ideal for pastures, papayas and other crops, or for large-scale plantations of eucalyptus which is grown for paper. The drier inland forests, the most threatened, have soils that are excellent for pastures. It comes as no surprise that most of the large forest fragments that have remained intact possess poor soils that are relatively undesirable for agricultural development.
The land closer to the ocean has historical importance for the cacao industry and is considered an ideal growing area for cacao, with rich soil and ideal rainfall and humidity. The level of biodiversity in this region is in competition with the region of Una, for having the most biodiversity in the world; only 120 kilometers apart.
Because of this richness in biodiversity and wonderful climate, it has attracted increased international attention over the last few years, not only from environmental conservation groups, but also from international investments groups, private investors and tourists. Eco-tourism is on a steady rise as an economy base for the region, which means infrastructure is being updated and expanded. A new multi-million dollar bridge is going in on highway BA-001 that will cross the Rio Contas, which will reduce the driving time from Salvador to Itacaré from 7 hours to 4 hours. This will most likely result in an increase in weekend and vacation homes from the population in Salvador. This will continue to put continued pressure on the already stressed biodiversity and environmental treasure of the Mata Atlântica Mata.
In a 2003 study released by the World Watch Institute, researchers Chris Bright and Radhika Sarin outlined how cacao could be grown in a way that would help restore the northern part of the Mata Atlântica biome, while encouraging other forms of development that preserve forest instead of destroying it.
“Cocoa has serious potential for conservation because it is a high-value crop that can be grown under rainforest canopy,” says Mr. Bright, the lead author of Venture Capitalism for a Tropical Forest. “Cocoa is shade-tolerant, so farmers don’t have to clear all their forest in order to make a living with it.” The study supports the belief that the Brazilian cacao sector is poised to make the most of this conservation potential. According to Bright, Brazil could grow, manufacture, and export mainstream chocolate products that preserve forest, boost rural employment, and turn chocolate consumers into an international constituency for the Atlantic Forest as a whole.
This too is the vision of the BTF managers and we feel we are poised to support this opportunity because of our vertical supply chain from farm to factory, our strategic alliances and experience in the international specialty chocolate market.