agriculture

Ngöbe Buglé farmers see profits rise from cocoa crop

A decision to turn to organic farming methods has boosted one village’s cocoa crop by a factor of 10.

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new crop:Cocoa is a moneymaker for Cílico Creek residents.1027203

Just 20 minutes from the town of Chiriquí Grande, in the province of Bocas del Toro, lies the picturesque Ngöbe Buglé village of Cílico Creek. Its 400 residents seem to inhabit the blurred region between the province´s agricultural past and its hard, but promising future.

Signs of the future arrived last month, when solar panels were installed to power the local school´s first computers. Outside, Indian women loaded bunches of bananas in traditional woven Chaco bags, as they have for decades.

Cílico Creek, which for many years was a remote one-horse town in the middle of Bocas del Toro´s banana belt, found itself on the relatively new road linking Chiriquí Grande to Changuinola. Suddenly, the town had direct access to the sea.

So when a community development program teaching organic cocoa cultivation was held here two years ago, residents saw a niche business opportunity and grabbed it. The endeavor has been bearing fruit ever since.

John Palacios is one of the area´s organic cocoa producers that sells their small cocoa harvest to the Cooperativa de Productores de Cacao de Bocas.

"Before we were only getting a quintal of cocoa per hectare," he said. "And now, with the improved program, we expect to have a yield of 10 quintals."

"Many have their little farms certified as organic," said Bernando Jaén, director of the Programa Ngöbe Buglé in the county.

Jaén says that the program´s goal is to help all of the communities improve their production and marketing of cocoa products, with profits being put back into education.

For Leonidas Aguilar, president of the local community board, the most important thing is training them explain how achieve and maintain an assured market.

Despite the town´s advances, there is still much to be done. A mountain spring is Cílico Creek´s main water source, and there are still no septic tanks or even latrines in the school. Thanks to the cocoa industry, however, a sustainable future is more firmly within the reach of its residents.

"We´re not finished yet. We need more training, but we are proud to be improving little by little," said Leonidas Aguilar.