Aside from the common chocolate products from Davao City, the Cacao City Marketing Cooperative improves the cacao industry through venturing to non-chocolate products.
According to the report from Business World, The Cacao City Marketing Cooperative is a group of farmers and processors in Davao City.
Lizabel G. Holganza, one of the cooperative’s founding members, stated that cacao has more potential rather than chocolates.
“Aside from snacks like cacao granola and tablea for making chocolate drink, some of their members have been using cacao husks to make tea, and the leaves for notebooks, paper and lamps,” Holganza said.
Moreover, the said cooperative, in partnership with the Department of Science and Technology, produces wallpaper, chair covers, and furniture, where plastics are made up of cacao leaves.
Holganza emphasized that while others develop the cacao industry through increasing the area plantation, their cooperative focuses on developing the value-adding.
She said in the report that it is the challenge to improve the industry by focusing on the farm expansion alongside with the value-adding.
Let’s not buy fake chocolate, let’s not buy products that came from across the globe because we know the environmental impact and the carbon footprint of all these products,” she said.
The recent Mindanao Trade Expo, where Cacao City in partnered with Institute of International Culinary and Hospitality Entrepreneurship (ICHEF), carried out a cacao dessert baking competition.
Apart from developing the cacao industry through farm and processing channels, the conducted various activities also aim to increase awareness of domestic consumers in patronizing the Davao-produced cacao and chocolates.
Source:
https://www.bworldonline.com/davao-cacao-industry-exploring-new-non-chocolate-products/.