A cocoa project showed partial results in Ocaña

The project, financed with resources from Fondo Ambiental de Portugal, has been running since April 2021 in 5 municipalities of Norte de Santander from the La Suiza Research Center, the Cúcuta Headquarters, the Tibaitatá Research Center, and the central Headquarters.

 

Ocaña, Norte de Santander. April 20, 2023. Within the framework of the project entitled: "Improvement for environmental sustainability through the implementation of technologies within the framework of the national strategy for cocoa cultivation," the partial presentation of results day was carried out in Ocaña before approximately 100 cocoa producers from the area.

This project, financed with resources from the Portuguese Environmental Fund, includes four objectives. It will fully benefit about 500 producers in the Catatumbo region, considering its approach framed in Development Programs with a Territorial approach, or PDET zones (for its acronym in Spanish).

In the municipalities of Convención, Teorama, Tibú, Sardinata, and Hacarí, the following four objectives are developed, some framed in the Sustainable Development Goals, SDGs.

Objective 1: Focused on implementing a technology plan available in the country focusing on safety and mitigation of cadmium in cocoa, led by Ph.D. Senior Martha Marina Bolaños Benavides.

Objective 2: Framed in the duplication of agricultural productivity and producer income through the recovery of 100 hectares and the establishment of agroforestry systems of cocoa clones and timber species, led by M.Sc. Researcher Andrés Agudelo Castañeda.

Objective 3: It is expected to contribute to the sustainability of hybrid cocoa production systems by implementing efficient agricultural practices that increase cocoa yield and contribute to maintaining ecosystems and mitigating and adapting to climate change, led by Ph.D. Associate Researcher Ariel René Carreño Olejua.

Objective 4: In charge of delivering 2,000 timber trees and 40,000 cocoa trees through agroforestry systems to contribute to planting forests and provide crucial habitats for species associated with the crop and fight climate change, led by M.Sc. Associate Researcher Jairo Rojas Molina.

Andrea C. Montenegro, Ph.D. from AGROSAVIA, is in charge of managing this project. She expressed the importance of the dynamics developed with regional institutional actors "in an area that needs us, and that requires a boost for cocoa cultivation."

In alliance with entities such as Fedecacao, Umatas, Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana (UPB), and Universidad de Santander (UDES), approaches with producers in the region and progress in fieldwork and the necessary infrastructure to meet the stated objectives have been achieved.

Montenegro added: "With this project, we hope to improve sustainability in general, agriculturally, environmentally and economically, because if we generate cocoa with good traits that stand out in the market and with procedures aimed at quality, safety and food safety, we will be able to market it not only in Colombia, but also abroad, and, thus, generate profitability for our producers."

Likewise, she concluded that the project wants to achieve "that real impact to improve the quality of life of the producer and the consumer."