Grenada ventures into large-scale cocoa production

Grenada is partnering with international choco-late-making company L.A. Burdick to construct a modern plant as part of the efforts to improve cocoa production on the island.

Officials say the plant, which is expected to become operational by early 2011, will signal Grenada's entry into large-scale cocoa manufacturing.

The deal allows for L.A. Burdick to import equipment and train workers while the construction of the plant is the expense of the Grenada Cocoa Association (GCA), the body that represents farmers' interest.

"The sayings of Maurice Bishop might be coming true, in terms of turning our raw cocoa into a product that we can be proud of. I think it's a really interesting development," said Samuel Braithwaithe, a senior GCA official.

"The building is almost completed. About 50 per cent of the equipment is already here and certainly in the New Year we would be starting our manufacturing in partnership with one of our buyers."

L.A. Burdick, with offices in Switzerland and New York, is considered a forerunner in America's high-end chocolate trade. The company is currently one of Grenada's international buyers in a triangular arrangement in which Grenada's raw cocoa is exported to Switzerland to be manufactured and shipped to end user markets in the United States.

"We would be in a position to cut off that triangle," said Braithwaithe, "so it would be Grenada-USA, and that is exciting news because, to do so, a lot of the technology has to be transferred to Grenada."

A statement posted on L.A. Burdick's website also confirms the partnership. The initiative will take more beans out of the commodity market and into value-added products.

Farmers are being paid a rate of EC$3.43 (US$1.27) per pound of cocoa, compared to EC$2.24 (US$0.81) six years ago when Hurricane Ivan devastated Grenada.

More than half of the estimated 6,500 cocoa farmers have returned to the fields since then.

"For the first three years, Burdick will be taking the products for what the plants produced, giving us a ready market, but the plant will have the capacity to produce more," said Braithwaithe.

"The product will be in blocks of one to two kilos of refined product, with about 32-39 per cent cocoa fat cultured and ready to be used by the end users."

Grenada currently produces 1.8 million pounds of cocoa a year, according to official figures.

- CMC