In the country that ranks second in the harvest of coca, the plant whose leaves are used in the production of cocaine, the idea to get Peruvian farmers to plant alternative crops is not new.
Traditionally, the idea has been met with criticism -- why would growers switch to crops that bring less income, economists ask -- but may have finally found a foothold in Peru, thanks to the success of a growing industry in cacao beans, used in the production of chocolate.
In the upper Peruvian Amazon forest, in the north-central region of San Martin, cacao has become a hit, eclipsing the allure of growing coca.
"Some 99 percent of the producers in Tocache were dedicated to producing coca," said Mario Cavero, of the Tocache Agroindustrial Cooperative.
Now, he said, it is cacao that has become "a very strong engine of growth."
The transformation was the result of years of programs, backed by the U.S. Agency for International Development, which appear to have paid off. In October, the Tocache Agroindustrial Cooperative, located in the San Martin region, won a prestigious award from the Salon du Chocolat in Paris for the most aromatic cacao beans, beating competitors from Ecuador, Venezuela and Trinidad and Tobago.
The distinction is bringing even more attention to the region locally and abroad, as first reported by Time Magazine this month.
The shift from coca to cacao is significant in a country that has supplied so much coca to international drug trafficking organizations that turn the leaves into cocaine to be smuggled north to the United States and elsewhere.
"The province of Tocache is one that suffered many years of terrorism and narcotrafficking," Cavero said. "I think now our country is heading on a good route."
There is much room to grow, he added.
Complete article at CNN's website at:
http://edition.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/americas/02/10/peru.chocolate/index.html
