In Vitória do Xingu, Emater trains cocoa producers for culinary production
The initiative is fundamental in the process of verticalization of the cocoa production chain, from planting the fruit to processing with greater added value
Attended by the local office of the Technical Assistance and Rural Extension Company of Pará (Emater) in Vitória do Xingu, in Xingu, farmer Roberto Lindolfo Mouzinho, 50, works with 15,000 cocoa trees on the Presente de Deus farm, in the Cobra Choca community, at Km 45 of the Transamazon Highway (Br-230).
“Cocoa is a very rich fruit, with multiple uses and availabilities. Our goal is always to add importance, quality, and utility,” he considers.
He is one of 20 cocoa growers from three communities who, on this Wednesday (11) and Thursday (12), are participating in a workshop on artisanal production of jelly and liqueur from the fruit, promoted by Emater in partnership with the Organic Producers Cooperative of Transamazon (Copotran), at the headquarters of this entity, in the Jacarezinho community. The practical and theoretical training covers stages such as collection, hygiene, and cooking.
In addition to families from the Cobra Choca and Jacarezinho communities, families from the Baixada community also participate. The average cocoa planting on the properties is three to eight hectares. The harvest is absorbed by the Food Acquisition Programs (PAA) and the National School Feeding Program (Pnae) and also supplies the chocolate market throughout Brazil.
“The expectation is to expand even the range of what we already do: honey, butter. I, for example, sell the beans and the pulp, both to the Cooperative and directly in the municipality,” explains farmer Mouzinho.
Production Chain
According to the head of the local Emater office in Vitória do Xingu, agronomist Raimundo Barbosa Neto, Emater's role is fundamental in the process of verticalization of the production chain: “These are strategies for integrating the sequence of production phases: from raw material to commercialization - and the relevance of the possibilities for processing, with the result of value-added by-products. All of this impacts sustainability,” he summarizes.
For the president of Copotran, Marcos Roberto Santos, 42, better known as “Marquinhos,” Emater is the main support agency for family farming: “Emater documents with the CAF [national register of family farming] and intermediates with the PAA, the Pnae, among other actions. In terms of income diversification, we have implemented several activities - and we also aim for the issue of Cop-30 [30th United Nations Conference on Climate Change, in Belém, in November], where we intend to stand out, representing the cocoa Amazon,” he points out.
Text by Aline Miranda
