The Agroforestry Project of cocoa, plantain and abarco (forest native species), is one of the 4 Productive Projects that we develop within REDD+ Matavén.
We work with 100 indigenous families, each one in its 1-hectare parcel/conuco in 10 Matavén communities: Palmarito, Miraluz, Morocoto, Morichal, Yurí, Cumaral, Caño Bocón, Berlín 1, Sejalito 1, San Luis De La Rompida.
We started this Project in October 2020, in alliance with FEDECACAO (Federación Nacional de Cacaoteros) and we are currently finishing Phase II. We have delivered supplies to each family (cocoa plants, plantain hills, corn, abarco trees, fertilizers). We have provided tools to each family (shovel, machete, aglime, buckets, barretón, manual pruning shears, pruning shears long reach, pump of sprayer fumigation, wheelbarrow, handsaw, pruning knife and a motor scythe). We built a 1.000 square-meter nursery with an area for bag-filling and substrate preparation, to produce 45.000 cocoa plants every six months for replenishment. We have trained participants in planting techniques and crop management, fertilization, and disease control. We did an inventory of the plants and its phytosanitary and production status. We have developed phytosanitary control activities for the plants, and we have accompanied the processes for fertilizer management and weed and pest control. We grafted the cocoa plants from the nursery with cloned genetic material to improve their quality. We design the benefit centers to ferment and dry the cocoa beans and ensure the quality of the grain. We have made more than 800 visits to the 100 conucos.
Today, each family has 816 cocoa plants in production, 816 Harton Dominican plantain plants in production, and 45 abarco trees for timber purposes. We will continue with Phase III, reinforcing training workshops with a special emphasis on good harvest and postharvest practices: pruning, grafting, fertilization and disease control for assuring a good quality of cocoa, in addition to structuring a cocoa marketing model.
We develop 4 different Productive Projects and the Coomatavén Cooperative, in order to improve Matavén crops (conucos) productivity, promote sustainable agricultural practices (land use), reduce pressure on the forest, guarantee food security & create new opportunities; to improve Matavén indigenous quality of life and protect their natural resources.