8
UWI TODAY
– SUNDAY 5TH APRIL, 2015
CONTEMPORARY COCOA INNOVATORS
Darril “Astrida” Saunders makes Exotic Caribbean
Mountain Pride drinking chocolate. “From the lush
mountains of Tamana Trinidad, comes an all natural
artisan indigenous chocolate … which quietly lends a
hand in healing common ailments andpeacefully soothes
mind, body and spirit.” Astrida recently travelled to New
York to speak at the Clinton Foundation “No Ceilings”
event.
Isabel Brash’s curiosity led her to dark chocolate and
artisanal bonbons. She is the creator at Cocobel and a
motivating force behind her brother’s Rancho Quemado
cocoa estate.
Lesley Ann Jurawanmanages Delft Cocoa Plantations
situated inGranCouva‘sMontserrat Hills, and is part of the
Montserrat Cocoa Farmers Co-operative Society. She is the
master chocolatier for the brand, Violetta’s Fine Chocolate.
British-born Ashley Parasram is applying a new
business model to the sale of cocoa derivatives and
chocolate in Europe. He was featured in the Style issue
of the Financial Times as “co-founder of the Riding
Club London and a former international development
specialist.”
Parasram’sTrinidad andTobago Fine Cocoa Company
Limited signed anMOUwith the Government of Trinidad
and Tobago and is set for an on-line launch on April 1,
2015 at
.
Singapore-born Gina Hardy, after ten years in
accounting in London, married a Trinidadian, came to
Trinidad and turned herself into a chocolatier. She creates
Gina’s Truffles.
Businessman Richard Trotman, James Burns, the
Omardeens and Café Mariposa are some other examples
of modern cocoa enterprise.
These are the new breed of cocoa entrepreneurs.
They bring business and marketing savvy, science and
technology, to the industry which once produced beans
for export. Their source for science is the Cocoa Research
Centre based at The UWI in St Augustine.
SCIENCE AND HISTORY OF
THEOBROMA CACAO
On the CRC website, Darin Sukha, Research Fellow,
lists uses for every part of the cocoa bean and pod,
including but not limited to chocolate in all forms, jams,
jellies, wine, vinegar, flavourings, pigments, mulch,
moisturizing lotions and beauty aids. Cocoa also has
its place in the lore that claims medicinal properties –
against diabetes, cardiovascular conditions, rheumatism,
parasites, snake bite and malaria, among others.
“This is not your grandfather’s cocoa,” asserts Sukha.
The proposed Innovation Centre is the framework for
“value added” businesses and investors.
Frances Bekele, who is a germplasm specialist in the
CRC at The UWI and has written extensively on the history
of cocoa in Trinidad, agrees.
“TheCocoa ResearchCentre has provided knowledge
and support tomany entrepreneurs, securing success and
sustainability with science.”
International companies like Cadbury and Mars Inc
have long accessed the research carried out at CRC.
This science began almost 100 years ago when the
Imperial College of Agriculture (now the St Augustine
campus of The UWI) established the Cocoa Research
Scheme funded by the governments of Ceylon (now
Sri Lanka) Gold Coast (now Ghana), Grenada, Nigeria,
Trinidad; and the firms Cadbury, Fry and Rowntree. The
Scheme became the Cocoa ResearchUnit (now the Cocoa
Research Centre).
The arrival at UWI in 1991 of Pathmanathan
Umaharan from Sri Lanka heralded the era of research in
cowpea, pigeon pea, hot pepper and cacao. Umaharan
became Professor of Genetics, and head of the CRC, which
participated in an international project tomap theDNAof
a Criollo cocoa variety. This opened the possibilities that
the Campus Principal, Professor Clement Sankat spoke of:
“We need to rekindle interest in food and agriculture,
particularly among younger people, and the work of the
CRC can support this cause. Research and development,
creativity and innovation would be what our university
and our research must focus on if we are to make an
impact.”
The CRC has developed disease-resistant and more
productive cacao varieties from the Criollo, Forastero,
Trinitario and Refractario varieties. It also manages the
International Cocoa Genebank Trinidad (ICG, T) which
is a living collection of 2400 varieties of cacao on 33
hectares in Centeno, allocated by the Ministry of Food
Production. The CRC recently developed its own brand
of 70% chocolate, which they find hard to keep in stock.
THE INTERNATIONAL FINE COCOA
INNOVATION CENTRE
In 2014, the CRC was successful in a partnership
bid for funding from the EU, under the ACP Science
and Technology Programme II for the establishment of
the three-year IFCIC initiative. According to Umaharan,
“The project has a twin mandate: the first is the positive
impact of scientific and technological knowledge and
research in the regional cocoa industry; the second is
the collaboration of academia and the private sector to
commission a physical innovation facility.”
Speaking on behalf of DanielaTramacere, the Charge
d’Affaires of the EU Delegation to Trinidad and Tobago
at the March 2015 conference, Kathrin Renner said, “The
The
New
Cocoa
Economy
B y P a t G a n A s e
Information sources:
CRC website
:
•
ACP website:
Modernization of the cocoa industry
a
new entrepreneurs focused on the highe
cacao bean as food, health and beauty ai
how the
Cocoa Research Centre (CRC)
through science, technology and innov
The European-funded
International Fi
inaugurated in 2014. InMarch this year, t
International Fine Cocoa Innovation C
with the theme
“Seeding Innovations
What follows is an account of the “pro
catalyst for the new cocoa economy.
OUR CAMPUS
Caribbean is held in high regard as a cocoa-producing
region for fine or aromatic (as opposed tobulk) cocoa. Fine
flavour cocoa accounts for only 5% of world production
and is concentrated in a few countries.
“For cocoa production to be sustainable in the long
term, we must embrace technology and innovation.
The IFCIC will also focus on creating innovations along
the value chain: production, processing, manufacturing
and marketing. The EU sees innovation as a cornerstone
of progress, and will continue to support Trinidad and
Tobago to promote and use innovation as the tool
towards a competitive and knowledge-driven economy.
Pathmanathan
Umaharan
Darin Sukha
SCIENCE IN SUPPORT OF SUSTAINABLE BUSINESS: Some members of the team at the CRC in
