The forest in every bar
The journey of cacao from the farm to your hands
1.
Where the journey begins
Adis Castillo lives in a wooden house in El Descanso (The Rest) community in Colombia. Sat on her balcony with her two daughters, she enjoys a hot chocolate and some bread baked by her grandmother while watching village life. Her village still preserves the sweet and tangy aroma of cacao beans drying in the courtyards of the houses.
In this rainforest, where smiles and dreams flourish, the cacao that more than 300 million people enjoyed for breakfast this morning is brought to life.
2.
On the way to the camp
Adis's farm is over an hour away from her home. She and her husband visit their cacao plantation every week, cleaning it, making sure it's healthy, and that the pods (as the cacao fruit is called) are growing well and have the vibrant orange color that signals they are ready to become drinking chocolate, chocolate bars, and perhaps, with a bit of luck, truffles that are sold all over the world.
A little flowering plant growing from the sandstone.
A little flowering plant growing from the sandstone.
In good years, Adis harvested between 90 and 300 kilograms of cacao from her two hectares, but lately, with the changing climate that causes heavy rains or severe flooding, the harvest doesn't reach 50 kilograms. But she can't lose hope; the income from the cacao pays for her daughters' university education.
Photo by MELQUIZEDEQUE ALMEIDA on Pexels
Photo by MELQUIZEDEQUE ALMEIDA on Pexels
Photo by Etty Fidele on Unsplash
Photo by Etty Fidele on Unsplash
Photo by Rachael Gorjestani on Unsplash
Photo by Rachael Gorjestani on Unsplash
Photo by Mockup Graphics on Unsplash
Photo by Mockup Graphics on Unsplash
Alongside the cacao trees, there are plantains, cedars, native plum trees, and other species. Together, they form an agroforestry system — the traditional way of growing crops in Tumaco. As a result, cacao production does not pose a significant risk to the forest; deforestation caused by cacao crops in Colombia accounts for less than 2 percent. This system shows that it's possible to produce while conserving the forest.
"I’ve been growing cacao since I was young, and we’ve always grown it alongside the forest. This is the traditional method of production."
Adis Castillo
Producer from the Chocolate Tumaco Association,
3.
The collection center
The Chocolate Tumaco Association buys all of Adis’s cacao. They know her farm, her practices, and how she transports it to the collection center in Chilvy.
Luis Martínez, the association’s technical leader, knows the producers very well. Having grown up with them, he now supports the process of telling the story of their cacao, from farm to table, by visiting and helping them.
The process that Luis helps with is called traceability, and it is a requirement under the European Union Regulation on Deforestation-free Products, EUDR 1115, which allows specific production chains to maintain open markets in Europe.
The regulation aims to guarantee that products exported from and sold in Europe do not contribute to the disappearance of the world’s forests. This is achieved by reducing greenhouse gas emissions and biodiversity loss.
This commitment was defined at climate summits and is now law for all productive communities in countries such as Colombia, which now aim to produce deforestation-free products.
Through initiatives like Inverpaz, Climate Promise, UN-REDD, and in partnership with the organization Swisscontact, UNDP has supported Chocolate Tumaco to implement its traceability system. The challenge is significant: mapping the land boundaries of each crop plantation, understanding in detail the characteristics of cultivation, transport, care, and production, and compiling a profile of each producer.
“Traceability allows us to tell the story of our product, showing its journey from the farms to the consumer. With this, we demonstrate our commitment to forest conservation and sustainable production practices, and it becomes an indispensable passport to reach global markets that increasingly seek deforestation-free products that protect the environment,” says Jose Hernest Klinger, manager of Chocolate Tumaco.
Jose and his team have set their sights on building an internal system that accounts for every step of the cacao journey, from the farm, through the collection center, to the entire sales and delivery process. “It’s not enough to simply not cut down the forest; we have to prove that we don’t do it,” Klinger affirms.
“We see traceability as a process that comes from within the organization; we transform traceability into territorial knowledge. Each phase generates a useful product for the producers, who retain governance over their data. Furthermore, we support closing the digital divide and promote inclusion and a gender perspective in this process,” states Jimena Puyana, Manager, Environment and Sustainable Development, UNDP Colombia.
4.
Cacao's journey keeps evolving: towards greater traceability
Traceability is a transformation that is here to stay. European markets have until July 2027 to start implementing the EUDR 1115 regulation, and other countries are already working on similar legislation. Knowing where each of the products we consume comes from is the future. In the present, we need to support community producers to ensure they are not excluded from international markets.
With traceability, communities can commit to protecting the rainforests in the Pacific coast of Colombia, fulfilling their vital role in addressing the impacts of climate change. By promoting more sustainable supply chains, it can help reverse the current impacts of deforestation and enable farmers like Adis to recover production levels that sustain both their families and the ecosystems where they live.
"Look how far my cacao has come. It has reached the world. I'm happy because this cacao has helped me build a better life for myself and my family," said Adis Castillo upon learning about the chocolate bar that is transforming her cacao into a gift for everyone.
Orange petaled flowers.
Orange petaled flowers.
UNDP's deforestation-free supply chain approach seeks to generate a verifiable positive impact on forests, biodiversity, and the livelihoods of people living in strategic ecosystems in Colombia, supporting local organizations with technology, training, and connections to value markets.
Text and photos: Nadia Rey Cobos, UNDP.
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