Douna Cacao Tucupita is a family business in Delta Amakuro State, started in 2021. Its name means “cocoa from the forest” in the Waraw language, which is why its owners intensify their efforts to select the best raw materials from the fields, among producers to commercialize high quality chocolate.
Giancarlos Restrepo, one of the partners, believes that his company has a different concept of organization operation: they encourage the production of cocoa under the most accepted quality standards, the producers from the north and south axes of Tucupita. Give training, where there are abundant fields of this fruit.
“Douna Cacao wants to change the way cocoa is produced in Delta Amacuro, where we still have producers who do not take quality into account. We understand that what they want is to sell, but with ideal quality and that’s what we bet on”, Restrepo said.
To the south and north of Tucupita are large expanses of cocoa farms, with Dauna Cacao promoting quality production.
According to Giancarlos Restrepo, the Delta produces good cocoa due to natural and genetic conditions, however, some of these raw materials do not have certain treatment protocols to improve their quality.
That is why Dauna Cacao is committed to the training of growers in the technical requirements for the production and subsequent management of cocoa.
Dauna produces Cacao Un Chocolate Premium
Practitioners point out that the quality of chocolate depends on the treatment of cocoa, its harvesting, fermentation and drying.
Dauna Cacao contacted two scientists from the National Agricultural Research Institute of Miranda State, who gave workshops on grain handling to obtain quality chocolate or their derivatives, as well as plant care during the harvest process.
The scientists trained many of the company’s employees and, in turn, they developed a proposal to disseminate this knowledge and encourage new producers to offer quality products.
This knowledge has also reached the “Francisco Tamayo” Deltaica Territorial University. There many teachers take diplomas in chocolate under the treatment formats promoted by Dauna Cacao.
From this company they insist that their sales concept goes beyond marketing to an integral development vision of Delta apart from monetary gain.
Cocoa Management for Good Chocolate
Ansony Longart and José Palma, two producers from the northern axis of Tucupita, took Dauna Kakao as a reference. Both share their experiences of how they changed their methods of harvesting and have now become regular vendors for the chocolate company.
The harvesting process is delicate, once the cacao reaches its ripe yellow or red color depending on the species. Special attention should be paid to diseases that attack it in this first stage, such as brown spot and witch’s broom.
Longart and Palma explain that at first they started the fermentation process in bags, but because of quality recommendations, the process is now carried out in apamates wooden boxes or in maras covered with banana leaves. Here, the grain is placed in what is called a “sludge” for six days, while the grain will be removed every 48 hours to ensure uniformity.
Then proceed to drying. The grain is taken to a house that has very low zinc roofs, where it will be heated for different hours a day, for at least three or four days, then ready to be sold. Will go
Both used to sell their products under other fermentation and drying methods for $1.5, but now sell them for $2.5 per kilo, as long as they follow handling standards.
Each farm can harvest about 40 kg of cocoa beans in two seasons in a year. That is, each producer is capable of producing 80 kg of this item annually.
Marketing of Dauna Cacao
Dauna Cacao sells a wide range of chocolate productions, including bars, candy with figures, powder, liquid chocolate, brownies, among others.
So far, chocolate bars are most in demand by other companies such as bakeries and party agencies. Its clients, who are also high-end organizations, are located in Tucupita, Maturin and Ciudad Guayana.
“We want to expand, but for now we have to meet other requirements to do so; The conditions of transport and transfer are a constraint for us, as they are products that need to preserve their smell, color and taste”, said Giancarlos Restrepo.
More producers seek to join as definitive sellers of Dauna Cacao- Dauna focuses on boosting production in the Cacao Delta
More producers seek to join as definitive sellers of Dauna Cacao
Dauna focuses on boosting production in the Cacao Delta
