ESCO Kivu

Location: Various villages in the buffer zone of Virunga National Park, North Kivu province, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda.

Bean variety: Virunga Amelonado

Flavour notes: Deep chocolate notes with an earthy tang and black tea.

Description

In 2007, East-Africa based agronomist Hilde de Beule was searching for a partner to turn the dormant plan for a cacao development project in Eastern Congo into reality. Two years earlier she had developed the plan together with Philip Betts, owner of an Eastern Congo based ethical agri-trading company who was looking for cacao as an alternative crop for farmers and his business after the decline of the regional coffee sector due to plant disease. When Hilde met Philipp Kauffmann, who was starting-up a new conservation chocolate company (later called Original Beans), she found the perfect partner for a long-term vision of peace and conservation around Virunga, Africa’s oldest national park.

By early 2008, the partnership had secured the first support funds. By 2009, they had flown one ton of under-fermented Virunga Amelonado cacao to Europe to make the first-ever single-origin chocolate from war-torn Eastern Congo. By 2012, an independent study concluded that 13,000 farmers in the region had been guided and trained for certified cacao production. Their income had doubled from $500 to over $1000 per year. Most people involved had been educated about HIV/Aids and tuberculosis. The study calculated that 3 million trees had been planted and deforestation rates had halved since the beginning of the Virunga cacao project.

In the meantime, Cru Virunga 70% had become a multi-awarded chocolate and was served by leading chefs and patissiers. In 2013, US chocolate brand Theo Chocolates joined the work in Eastern Congo supported by Hollywood actor Ben Affleck. Hilde, now Original Beans’ African Bean Team leader, pushed ahead for progress. She helped to start a local extension NGO, IDAD, and focused Original Beans’ work on the empowerment of women. Femmes de Virunga 55% became a new project and chocolate, and in November 2016 the world’s first women-led cacao cooperative – in one of the most dangerous places in the world to be a woman.

Harvest times: November – February (secondary harvest May-June)

Harvest volumes: 5000

Number of farmers: 5769

Hectares farmed: 11583

Farming notes: Cocoa grows at the foothills of the Rwenzori Mountains sloping into the Semliki Rivershed and down into the wider Congo Bassin forests. Cooler tropical climate with strong seasonal rains. Mineral soils of the Rift Valley give the characteristic earthiness to the cacao trees sourrounding Virunga National Park.

Fermentation and drying notes: Given remoteness and war-caused social disruption, farmers often ferment individually in the fields, using banana leaves, bags or buckets. The ESCO team has established and controls protocols, including sundrying on small platforms. Purchasing stations have been set up across the region which check qualities and pay accordingly.