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BENGUET, Philippines – The Benguet State University (BSU) opened its doors to chocolate enthusiasts and industry stalwarts as it hosts the first-ever Cordillera Chocolate Festival beginning on Valentine’s Day.
The event, from February 14 to 15, showcases a wide array of cacao products from the provinces of the Cordillera, signaling the beginning of concerted efforts to strengthen the chocolate industry in the Cordillera Administrative Region.
Under the theme “Generating Sustainable Cacao Value Chain,” the festival aims to highlight and promote sustainable practices within the local cacao industry, a crucial step toward ensuring the sector’s long-term viability and impact.
The February 14 event also included the oathtaking of the new officers of the Cacao Growers and Processors Benguet-Baguio Federation before Benguet Governor Melchor Diclas.
Diclas said there was a need for diversifying Benguet’s agricultural industry.
“With the province’s growing population, we need to explore alternative industries. Cacao presents a viable option, especially as an alternative to our high-value crops like vegetables, which face price drops in December,” he said.
Rolando Renegado, the regional cacao focal person for the Department of Agriculture’s (DA) High-Value Crops Development Program (HVCDP), said cacao has been considered a priority commodity in the region.
The program, he said, has so far provided P6.645 million to aid the local cacao industry since 2020.
“We aim to enable communities in processing tasks such as drying, fermentation, and roasting. Our goal is for local growers to move up the value chain, leveraging science and technology to innovate and improve their enterprises,” said Dr. Enrico Paringit of the Department of Science and Technology-Philippine Council for Industry, Energy, and Emerging Technology Research and Development.
Those who took part in the festival’s opening were treated to an exhibit and sale of cacao chocolate products from various Cordillera processors, alongside competitions for the best tablea, the best 70% dark chocolate, and awards for the largest, heaviest, and most bean-filled cacao pods.
Organizers said the two-day event also serves as a platform for the presentation of the terminal report of Project Sweet PH C, titled “Standardization of Ways in Enhancing and Establishing Techniques in Processing Highland Cacao,” and includes the distribution of a cacao protocol manual to growers and processors.
The opening of the festival, organized by Dulche Chocolates Incorporated, a start-up funded by the DOST through the Women Helping Women: Innovating Social Enterprises Program, concluded with the distribution of pruning shears and saws, symbolizing the continuous support for the cultivation and maintenance of cacao trees. – Rappler.com
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