YACAO SA, Dominican Republic
PRONATEC launched the YACAO project in the Yamasá region (40 km north of Santo Domingo) with local partners in 1999.
The aim of the project is to produce high-quality cocoa for export and provide poor smallholders with an income. A unique processing centre was built for this purpose: here the beans are fermented, dried, calibrated, cleaned and stored. The beans used come from smallholders affiliated to the Federación Dominicana de Productores Orgánicos (FEDOPO), an organisation which is Fair-Trade certified.