Visiting the fascinating route of cacao in Paria
Yuly Carreño
Paria is a land of luxuriant nature, charm, wealth, history, tourism and of course, of cocoa. In Sucre state, located in the north-eastern region of Venezuela, this ancestral fruit is displayed in almost all corners.
It became the legacy of families that despite the oil boom and time passed by, they decided to keep afloat the experience accumulated in the cultivation of this product, cultural heritage of the Peninsula of Paria.
There is not much known about the presence of cocoa crops in Sucre. It was believed that it was introduced to the Paria region during the colonial period. Nevertheless, before the arrival of the Spaniards to this “land of grace” cocoa forests were already reported.
According to some documents and testimonies, the type of cacao in this geographical area was as so much quality as the Criollo type found in the coastal region of Venezuela.
Although it was a rather slow process of conquest, considering arrival time of the Spaniards in 1498, most towns of Sucre state were founded as a result of the Spanish Colonization, by the hand of the Capuchin missionaries of Aragon.
The region of Paria, which was not part of the Province of Venezuela but the Province of Cumaná, was characterized by the old illegal trade that was practiced since the sixteenth century. Cocoa was the main product of smuggling, reason why many towns were founded after this illegal activity.
A fantastic route
We started the cocoa route in Sucre in one of the most beautiful and cosy towns of Eastern Venezuela: Río Caribe, in the municipality Arismendi. You have to travel about 530 kilometres from Caracas. The journey takes eight hours. It’s a long trip, but worth it.
Two important road axes can be identified here. The one coming from Carupano to Río Caribe and another that also starts in Carúpano to the population El Pilar, municipality Benítez. Both converge in the town of Yaguaraparo.
In Rio Caribe we found small productive cocoa farms. Some of them also make chocolate, as Chocolates Paria, located in the community of Chacaracual, about 10 minutes from the paradisiacal Playa Medina.
There are offered guided visits to learn about the process from the cultivation to the production of chocolate. The tour includes tasting of various types of chocolate and finally tourists can purchase delicious squares or other products such as bonbons or cocoa liqueur.
Following this route are other interesting sites such as the Mabel store, which produces punches, ice cream and other handmade cocoa by-products as well as the Hacienda Paria Shakti (former Hacienda Bukare), which in addition to cocoa production has been set up as a wellbeing centre based on holistic therapies, yoga and massages.
On this route it operates an important inns circuit and lodging options adapted to the needs of visitors. In addition to Playa Medina, there are other beaches such as Playa Uva, Chaguarama de Loero or Pui Pui, which makes it a great tourism destination.
Foundation for progress
The Paria Project Foundation (FPP) is headquartered in Río Caribe, which since 1989 has been dedicated to reactivating the cocoa economy through various training and counselling programmes for producers.
Thanks to the participation of public and private entities such as PDVSA, the Andean Development Corporation (CAF), FUNDACITE, Nestlé Venezuela, the European Bank, among others; The FPP has become a reference in the cultivation, processing and commercialization of cocoa in Sucre state.
“Within the approach of sustainable development, we address social, economic and productive issues being cocoa the centre of these three aspects” Carlos Guerra, president of the FPP says.
Important initiatives linked to the FPP are the plant of fermentation and drying Cacao Río Caribe (Carioca) and the Cocoa Community Centre, which serves as an educational and training place not only for the municipality but also for the whole country.
The cocoa development centre, a project carried out by the FPP together with the Cacao Plan Nestlé is another relevant project. It provides comprehensive assistance to cocoa producers through different elements, among them, the propagation centre, which is a profit centre, and the germplasm bank, allowing teaching, practise and research under the high quality standards that local producers are expected to have.
The greatest producer
Today Sucre state is the largest cocoa producer in Venezuela (representing 52% of the national production, according to the FPP). “At least eight out of the 15 municipalities, are cocoa producers, but the most important are Arismendi (Rio Caribe) Benítez (El Pilar) and Cajigal (Yaguaraparo),” Carlos Guerra points out.
The plantations in Sucre are mixtures of Forestero and Trinitarian cocoa trees (80% of production is based on these two types) and also some hybrids as the result of mixtures between local trees and introduced materials.
The fermentation practice has not been widespread and a considerable percentage of the production is ordinary cocoa. The Rio Caribe Superior is perhaps the most outstanding type due to its very high quality, as per some manufacturers. It is a Trinitarian cocoa that may or may not be fermented, depending on the market to which it is directed.
An Innovative production model
Keeping on the route we continue towards El Pilar, in the municipality Benítez, where we can find, among others, Hacienda San Jose, one of the most important in the state and in the country.
This hacienda is owned by the Franceschi family and as most of the haciendas in the area they are of French origin, from Corsica Island. This company, responsible for the exquisite Chocolates Franceschi (formerly Chocolates San Jose), does not use local cocoas, but a variety of Criollo cocoas and some hybrids such as Ocumare, Chuao, Porcelana or Guasare, cocoa species that were collected a few years ago while an arduous work to restore the hacienda.
Vicente Franceschi, one of the responsible for this successful brand, explains: “Hacienda San José is not a traditional hacienda, we have another way of seeing things, as an example, we have tried that cultivation is not made by seed but by grafting, We have different technology and a different way of approaching cocoa quality. “
Chocolates Franceschi have focused on developing research areas for cocoa blends, in order to obtain progressively more and better crops for the subsequent production of fine and extra fine chocolates that get delirious the most demanding palates.
The effort has been worthy. Franceschi’s varietals have been recognized in several occasions with important international awards, including the International Chocolate Awards in New York, a prize to the best chocolates in the world.
Axis of interest
In the municipality Benítez stands out the axis of Quebrada de Mono, a mountain area in which communities take part: Mauraco, La Hierba, Las Conotas, Cangrejera, Periquito and Papelón, among others.
This axis gathers a group of producers organised in cooperatives where a processing centre operates, with a production capacity of 25 tons of cocoa per year.
In Sucre the largest production percentage comes from small producers. Some of them are beneficiaries of former landowners and others have inherited a small piece of land that they have tried to maintain.
Nevertheless these lands have high quality products, the cultural and historical problems of cocoa cultivation prevail. Carlos Guerra is fully aware of this situation. “These are individuals ranging 60 to 65 years old, who own between 3 to 5 hectares, with an average production of 300 kilos. Most of who hardly carry out any renovation or rehabilitation of the trees, a reason why their haciendas are left behind. The producers are used to managing them in this comfortably way, risking to lose many profit margins”
FPP has been gradually changed this circumstance “Thanks to technological benchmarks some producers have managed to take their production to 1000 kilos per hectare”, The Institution Director points out.
Genetic quality
In addition to crop improvement through technical support to producers, one of the most appreciated aspects of the PPF is the genetic quality of cocoa. The goal is to encourage producers to graft, as an important step to create higher quality products and strengthen production, as a result. As per Carlos Guerra, younger producers are oriented to this, applying greater technical knowledge.
The municipality Benitez holds interesting tourist options, including Turuépano National Park, hot spring bathing resorts, buffalo breeding and Guanoco natural asphalt lake, among others.
La Serrania de La Cerbatana, an extremely fragile agro-ecological area where several tributaries that supply water to the municipalities Bermúdez, Arismendi and Libertador are born, being another area of interest of this route.
Strategic Yaguaraparo
The last stop of this cocoa route is the town Yaguaraparo, municipality Cajigal. Due to its geographical location, with access to several strategic points in Paria Peninsula (near the intersection to the Caribbean Sea and to Guiria), it has become the main cocoa trade centre in the state.
The centre is constantly visited by cocoa buyers, intermediaries and exporters seeking to obtain competitive prices as well as to know details of the current market in this area.
Likewise, FPP has tried to extend its experiences towards this territory in search of repeating the good practices with satisfactory results in production. The producers from El Bordal, Cachipal and Río Seco are some of those who have already started training. “For many years we have been working to change the perception of producers about cocoa. When we arrived here they were selling the haciendas and moving away, but now if we try to buy one, we will not get it,” Carlos Guerra says, pointing out the ties that cocoa has created among certain producers. “The presence of the producer is no longer temporary, on the contrary, there is a greater permanence at the farms and this is increasingly improving production.”
Cocoa and Plot
Just as other cacao areas in the country, some producers combine the cultivation of cocoa with other crops. Yucca, ocumo or banana among others, are harvested to alleviate the Venezuelan current economic situation characterized by food scarcity. In some cases, Carlos Guerra adds, “this plot is managed in an anarchic way, leading to the felling of big extensions of lands near the river basins, with terrible environmental consequences.”
The journey through Sucre state is fascinating. The small cocoa farms linked to the growing tourism of Rio Caribe, the productive diversity and amazing tourist options in the municipality Benitez and the inhospitable but strategic border of Yaguaraparo show a captivating territory that mixes the goodness of nature with the fertility of its lands.
Even so these potentialities, there is still much to be done in Paria. To improve the quality of life of its inhabitants, to promote initiatives in favour of new tourist options in order to generate sources of income that reduces poverty rates, are some of the unresolved matters. And in all of them, cocoa is this valuable seed that, like in colonial times, can lead to progress, development and well-being for an entire country.
