Bogia cocoa farmers receive chocolate bonus

A group of cocoa farmers from Madang's Bogia District have received the 'Chocolate Bonus' for this year for producing high-quality cocoa beans and meeting the export volume.

Chocolate Bonus is a community reward initiative, implemented by Kamapim Limited, a subsidiary of Envirium Group (Belgium), and is registered as a foreign entity in Papua New Guinea.

The farmers are from Bom and Suaru communities in ward 5 of the Almami Local Level Government area.

Since its commencing operations in Madang Province in 2018, Kamapim Limited has been providing training and support to vanilla farmers to produce high-quality vanilla beans for export to premium international markets, particularly in Europe.

The company then expanded its operations into cocoa production; with its first cocoa export registered this year.

Kamapim's General Manager Varun Rai told NBC News that the farmers from Bom and Suaru have met the requirements, and the company is happy to give them the Chocolate Bonus for this year.

He said, "Kamapim is part of Envirium Group, which has an initiative of Chocolate Bonus program based on the supplied volume to the company. We have finalised their project, which is related to water, and we are happy to assist them with their water tank project for the community to fulfil their required needs at the moment."

Tony Joseph, Kamapim's Warehouse and Sourcing Manager, said, "This is our first year to go into cocoa export.

"Besides exporting cocoa, we have also helped Madang Province as a whole by registering cocoa farmers and providing financial literacy training for them.

"Now, we are happy to assist them with the Chocolate Bonus under the company's community engagement program. With El Nino now at its peak, we are happy to help the community with water tanks, which we hope will help them well during this time."

Joseph further explained that the Chocolate Bonus is the premium assistance that the company can give to farmers that supply them with cocoa.

He said Bom and Suaru are the first community to benefit from the project.

As part of the project, Kamapim last week gave two 9000 liters tuffa tanks, water pipes, and taps to the farmers to support them access clean and safe water.

Another incentive that Kamapim Limited is currently working on is a post-harvest facility at Daigul.

Joseph said the facility is a first- of- its- kind in the country, which will allow the company to buy both wet and dry beans from the farmers and process them into quality beans for export.

"The biggest problem we have in the country now is quality, so this facility will help reduce the fermentation burdens on farmers. A lot of farmers cannot afford to build a fermenter because the cost of building one is about K20 to K25, 000.

"Whilst most of them have met the Cocoa Board requirement of owning a hectare of cocoa trees which qualifies them to own a fermenter, they cannot afford to build one.

"Most times, fermenter owners come and sell cocoa beans on behalf of the farmers, and they get a lot of tax from the farmers. We have seen this, and that's why we have come up with the idea to build the post-harvest facility. This will allow the farmers to concentrate on block management and extension of their cocoa farms," he elaborated.

Joseph further stated that a key aspect of their business model is ensuring that farmers receive fair and sustainable benefits for their hard work, and through their international partners, they are implementing the Chocolate Bonus, a community reward initiative based on the supply of quality cocoa beans, and in compliance with the European Union Deforestation Regulation requirements.

The initiative aims to promote sustainable agricultural practices whilst improving community livelihoods.

He said Kamapim is grateful for the strong support provided by the Bom and Suaru community during the past year.

Joseph stated, "Their commitment and contribution has helped secure funding for a community- designed water project."

He also thanked stakeholder partners, Agmark and Farmset for their presence to witness the presentation of the tanks to the farmers last week.