Productive Planning for the Cocoa Chain and Agroindustry: Approaching the Finish Line

Bogotá D. C., (@UPRAColombia, @claudialili76). Both the cocoa chain and agroindustry are essential for the Colombian economy, as, due to their territorial dynamics, the majority of producers are considered small, meaning that over 90% of them have areas of less than three hectares. Additionally, they are part of the family and community peasant agriculture (ACFC) production system. 

Cocoa cultivation takes place in agroforestry systems, which not only allows for greater diversity but also makes significant contributions to the food security of those working in these systems. In this regard, Colombian cocoa farmers have been awarded in various international scenarios for producing fine and aromatic cocoa.

Regarding this, the General Director of the Rural Agricultural Planning Unit (UPRA), Claudia Cortés López, stated the following: 

"In March, we held the last joint and collective working meeting for the Productive Planning of the Cocoa Chain and Agroindustry. On September 21, 2023, we carried out an exercise in which we socialized the first stages of the plan, which are the situational analysis, the prospective analysis, and the work plan for the public policy line. Now, we are socializing the first preliminary document on the action plan. This action plan is very important because it has nine programs that were built participatively." 

In this exercise, we have been accompanied by the National Cocoa Federation (Fedecacao) and the Cocoa Network, as well as peasants, producers, institutions, and representatives from Santander, Antioquia, Tolima, Nariño, Putumayo, and Cundinamarca, in short, all the people related to the cocoa chain. In relation to this, the technical secretary of the cocoa chain of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Carlos Alberto Muñoz, said: "we have incredible challenges in terms of productivity, marketing, and transformation in order to be more competitive throughout the different links. It is important to guide all sector policies."

The action plan is the final phase for the collective construction of the Productive Planning of the Cocoa Chain and Agroindustry. To carry it out successfully, according to Alexander Rodríguez Romero, Technical Director of Efficient Soil Use and Land Adaptation (UESAT) of UPRA, it requires: 

"(...) an exercise of strategic planning guided by UPRA, under the leadership of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, which allows us to identify what the real problem is that the chain addresses from the territories, with the support of experts, who are the producers, who have alternative solutions that have not been heard in other areas but allow us to generate strengthened plans." 

Similarly, Oscar Darío Ramírez, director of the Technology Transfer program of Fedecacao, indicated the following: 

"Colombian cocoa has great possibilities in terms of quality, environmental supply, and social development: here the important thing is to keep growing. We need more productive volumes for both domestic consumption and export in the tariff lines where market intervention can be done. The great wealth that Colombia has with cocoa is its contribution to environmental, economic, and social sustainability, but we need all this initiative, through this planning, to advance faster in the goals and indicators to be able to position this great possibility that the country has for growth from rural areas, and thus stabilize rural areas."

Finally, Alejandro Flores Vanegas, leader of Productive Planning (POP) plans at UPRA, concluded: 

"The productive planning plan is designed so that all actors in the chain can review it, use it, and feel appropriated. That is: it will identify there by the needs or the gaps it has from the small producer to the large transformer or exporter. It is a document that is written in a technical but simple language so that the different actors can understand and implement it." 

To better inform yourself, and thus contribute to turning Colombia into an Agri-food Power, we invite you to participate in the Productive Planning of the Cocoa Chain and Agroindustry by consulting the following link on the UPRA website.​