The Ministry of Agriculture (MAGAP), through the Project of Reactivation of National Fine Cocoa, promotes two key strategies to reactivate and strengthen the cocoa industry in Ecuador.
The project has as a goal to improve the quality and productivity of the national cocoa, in order to reach the projected $3.000 million by 2025, for the gross domestic product of high quality cocoa.
The president of the association August 9th of Babahoyo and beneficiary of 6.000 cocoa plants, Jose Franco, said that support by the government is very important to grow the industry and improve productivity.
The Ministry of Agriculture stated that the first strategy focuses of rehabilitate the plants, through the cutting of the cocoa that the entity performs, with a result of 464 square miles being attended and more than 50.000 beneficiaries.
The second strategy consists in sowing the cocoa plants with genetic material, cloned plant of high productivity, verified by the Ministry of Agriculture along with Agrocalidad and the National Institute of Agricultural Investigations.
An example of this process was observed last week, when small farmers in Babahoyo and Vinces, of the province Los Rios, received 12.000 cocoa plants.
The national coordinator for the Coffee and Cocoa Articulation in the Project of Reactivation of National Fine Cocoa, Jorge Gaibor, stated that “in the country approximately 7´000.000 plants were delivered and 220.000 in the province of Los Rios.
He explained that the plants are being produced starting at 15 and 18 months old, after saying ¨we are certain that the plants are of high quality and that guarantees excellent processes.
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Source: El Telégrafo