Publicación de David Briceño Puentes

Este es un post para desahogarme, lo considero necesario. Hace semanas, conversaba con un colega que me decía que mi rol como consultor se iba a beneficiar con el alza de precios del cacao. Pero yo respondí que veía dos escenarios posibles y que no estaba seguro cual se iba a consolidar: O productores tendrían más recursos y eso los iba a hacer más dispuestos a invertir en asesoría y mejoras en su cultivo, o todo lo contrario, iba a consolidar la idea de que el cacao es este cultivo mágico que materializa cosechas con la fuerza del pensamiento y cuyo único defecto es el bajo precio. Ya pueden adivinar cuál escenario se ha manifestado de forma masiva... Y se manifiesta en que recibo innumerables solicitudes de compra inmediata de plantas de variedades que no existen, recomendaciones de insumos milagrosos y de prácticas universales. Todo esto se traduce en conversaciones de una hora donde debo resumir 30 años de avances en el cultivo del cacao y al final ni llevan las plantas ni contratan los servicios. Me llevo como mensaje, que persiste la idea de no invertir, de no pagar asesoría, de comprar las plantas más baratas del mercado, anhelando cosechas generosas. Persiste la idea de la sostenibilidad de facto del cacao agroforestal. Este boom, no se va a traducir en mayores volúmenes ni en el corto ni en el mediano plazo...

No me sorprende el titular. En el interior de la nota dice que el cultivo de cacao toma 4 o 5 años en producir y eso es totalmente cierto... Cuando se usan plantas de mala calidad, mal establecidas en campo, mal alimentadas, mal podadas y mal regadas. De lo contrario, la planta de cacao es muy precoz: Yo mismo he evidenciado cuaje de fruta a los 3 meses de trasplante bajo condiciones óptimas. Si queremos aprovechar los buenos precios, hay que reconocer el desdén técnico que existe con el cacao y corregirlo, de lo contrario seguiremos con un cultivo totalmente dependiente del vaivén del clima. Se superará la escasez de cacao con nuevas siembras? Replicando modelos antitécnicos, jamás.

#agriculture #cocoa #pesticides #sustainability This same thing happens in Colombia all the time. The agricultural inputs sellers provide "advice" over-the-counter, and since it is free, the farmer likes it. I consider myself a good agronomist and it would be impossible for me to give an accurate recommendation without visiting the farms and having maps, records, soil-plant analysis, sprayer calibration, data, etc., at hand. Now, the sellers neither have training nor visit the farms! (but it is free and excessively harmful). The misuse of pesticides and fertilizers is caused by a lack of control! The sale of all agricultural inputs should be controlled and technical assistance should not come from sales people having conflicts of interest and lacking the required training. It is not possible to produce long-lasting and sustainable positive results without sufficient field visits and training, and over-the-counter consulting is the complete opposite of this.

"The positive impact is evident. By implementing good agricultural practices, Isaac has seen healthier crops and improved #productivity on his farm, and higher yields have translated into increased income, allowing him to invest in his farm." However, in the comment section BBF states that the former "positive impact" wasn't measured, but anecdotally informed by the farmer. I would love to hear your thoughts, is it enough to measure project success by self reporting anecdotes?

#cocoa #cacao #sustainability #projectmanagement #cropmanagement How long does it take to make positive lasting interventions in #cocoa plantations? 🗺 Mapping: The first step to getting your baseline and understanding sampling needs could take a couple of hours per hectare. ⛏️ Field analysis: On-site analysis is necessary to understand #soil and #plant sampling. From a couple of hours to a week. 🪱 Soil sampling: it takes half a day to correctly collect 1 sample, and laboratory analysis takes 2 to 3 weeks. 📊 Diagnosis: about a day for a small #farm. But there is one last issue that is often overlooked: 🕐 Timing: Even if there are unmistakable and urgent needs inside a plantation, every issue has a specific window of time where it can be addressed effectively, otherwise no-effect or ill effects are to be produced by the intervention. So, how long❓️ From 3 months to 1,5 years, depending on timing and #crop needs. We started with this particular client, pictured below, in August, but the crop needs demanded that we should've start as early as May! This meant an increase in intervention costs, and while we are seeing an improvement close to 20% in yield, maintaining yield increases through the Oct/Nov harvest is our true goal. Bottom line: There is no way for a 100 farms to be synchronized! adapt your expectations and subsequent interventions to each specific farm condition.

#cocoa #sustainability #deforestation #huila #colombia #climatechange Do you feel that sustainability requirements are well adjusted for local needs or are too generic? Let's talk about the most prominent sustainability issues that the sector faces, such as deforestation, child and forced labor, among others. Here in Huila, we have cocoa farms hundreds of years old; we don't suffer from deforestation issues because we fell our forests decades ago, before anyone cared. We don't have child labor because most farmers are older than 55, and their now adult children migrated to more profitable (or less risky) activities in the cities, making labor increasingly scarce. What we do have are declining yields because of climate change and soil depletion, and the pressure to chop down the cocoa agroforests in favor of producing cattle or making artificial lakes for fisheries Cocoa agroforest that are the last relict of nature in many places. It might be tempting to sit comfortably with our default complying of global sustainability requirements, becoming a sort of "tax haven" to green wash cocoa beans, while neglecting our own urgent needs. Would you empower farmers' voices even if they challenge your and the market vision of sustainability?

One of the things that I enjoy the most about my work is cocoa sample preparation and evaluation. After all the hard work in the field and in postharvesting facilities, this part is really enjoyable. The smell, the taste, and the surprising profiles obtained by slightly modifying postharvesting practices and roasting conditions. Sharing those insights with motivated farmers is even better.

#chocolate #cocoa #colombia #quality #finecocoa #postharvest 😩 Exhausted after analyzing this cocoa liquor factory processes, but thrilled to be consulting for a local company making cocoa products at origin. I´ve always felt that in the cocoa/chocolate sector, communication is mostly unidirectional and chocolate flavor, a narrow consensus. But what if there is more❓ There is a unique understanding of chocolate flavor potential that comes with blending, in the same place, a keen understanding of cocoa agronomy, postharvesting, and processing. Looking for fine Colombian cocoa liquor and beans? you're in the right place! 🍫

#cocoa #orchard #innovation #Colombia #agroforestry #cropmanagement Cocoa high density orchards are a somewhat controversial topic. If farmers usually struggle to maintain an adequate crop shape with 1000 plants/ha. How could they possibly cope with 5000 plants like the picture below??? I started looking into high density cocoa orchards after "updating" my pruning scope about 10 years ago, and realizing that there was no way for a single cocoa plant to efficiently cover a 3 x 3 square. From there, it became wilder and wilder, and now I would rather not say the highest density I've tried for fear of an angry mob breaking through my door (Yup, that controversial). However, it's a great invitation to not take cocoa farming systems for granted and avoid repeating outdated and ineffective practices. Granted, it's not a universal solution, and farmers charmed solely by the higher yields should be wary about high resources and technology requirements. Still, there are some scenarios where med-high density cocoa agroforest are viable, allowing for better land use and reducing pressure over crop area expansion.