TOM'S REPORT , TRIP TO COTE D’IVOIRE 2023, June 13 N'Douci Education Center for Village Chocolate, New Machines

 TUESDAY, JUNE 13, 2023

 The house that is our new center for cocoa instruction in N'Douci. 

We arrived in N’Douci at 2:30 PM. We tried to get some cocoa beans but the person who brought the bag tried to sell us totally sub-standard beans.  I showed Roger why these beans were not good enough.  Unfortunately, I did not take a picture but there were flat beans, broken beans, teeny beans, sticks and stones.  In the business, we call that "useful for mulching your garden." So, off to a bad start with the locals who supplied us poor quality.  We have a long way to go to teach people how to make chocolate and how to pay attention to quality.

It took about 45 minutes to assemble the craqueur/vanneur. First, you turn on the vacuum cleaner. Then you introduce the roasted beans at the top and you turn the hand crank to break the beans into nibs and hulls.  The vacuum sucks air up the lit up column (in front) and the hulls fly up and then down into the plastic basin.  The nibs, which are heavier than the hulls, fall into the stainless steel drawer.

 

Alexis, the Technoserve Field Agent, a really great guy, found the sticker on the melangeur that showed single phase into the controller box and triple phase out. Before he noticed that, we were informed that the electrical company had misinformed us and that we would have to spend $1,000 running 4 wires 30 feet from the pole and adding a new meter.

I was feeling pretty exhausted, so Peggie volunteered to take my place with the electrician.  I sat down next to some representatives of another cocoa cooperative, CGERAHCCC, who are dying to work with us.  They spent 30 minutes telling me all about the plight of the cocoa farmers, which of course I’ve spent the last 20 years studying.  I explained to them that the easy part^[1] is establishing production centers but the hard part is establishing a market for Chocolat des Villages but that we are hoping to work with Technoserve to establish the new brand. [By saying “easy part” I do not mean to discount how hard it’s been to solve problems such as customs, purchasing, the numerous Zoom calls, but the efforts of the board have gotten us here!]  I also told them that we are trying to do something that hasn’t been done since humans established farms 8,000 years ago—giving the farmer control over the market.

The chauffeur took me back to the hotel, as I was feeling tired.  Peggie stayed there and contacted Monty and Balu at CocoaTown.  At this writing, it looks like there’s a chance the melangeur and the torréfacteur will be hooked up tomorrow.

The two new mélangeurs. 

Klaus with the Cracker and Winnower for N'Douci. 

Future aspirations for the Chocolate Education Center at N'Douci include:  ~Farmers learn how to ferment cocoa beans and farmers pool their beans so that fermentation occurs in minimum 250 Kg batches. This requires cooperatives with knowledgeable staff and credible leaders who can manage large-scale fermentation and persuade farmers that they aren’t being ripped off.  ~ Someone, like Project Hope and Fairness, uses social media to market the products globally, giving farmers access to international sales.  ~Investigate Chocolate distributed by sailboat, reducing the fossil fuel footprint and the costs of transportation. We are investigating partnerships regarding this goal.