Udzungwa cacao from Tanzania

The journey to this special cacao began in Tanzania's Kilombero Valley, where smallholder farmers have been growing cacao in harmony with nature for generations. With the launch of the Kokoa Kamili project in 2013, a new chapter began: by buying freshly harvested cacao beans directly at fair prices, farmers receive higher income and more time to focus on their fields and families.

At the fermentation facility, the beans are carefully processed in traditional boxes. Over 6 days of fermentation and slow drying in the sun, the cacao develops its unique flavor profile: delicate and balanced, with notes of orange and toffee. It is a project that strengthens smallholder farmers, protects the environment, and shows how much potential African cacao has.

Udzungwa cacao is grown by smallholder farmers in Tanzania's fertile Kilombero Valley, an area once associated with bulk cacao and now showing how sustainable value creation in Africa can work. Thanks to the Kokoa Kamili project, farmers receive fair prices for their freshly harvested beans and the opportunity to improve their livelihoods.

By buying our Udzungwa 100% Cacao Drops, you support local farmers and help protect Tanzania's rainforests while promoting the cultivation of high-quality cacao. The cacao trees grow in biodiverse agroforestry systems that provide habitat for birds and other animals and preserve nature sustainably.

Organic certifications are very helpful, but they paint a simplified picture. Healthy ecosystems are much more than the organic seal on a single product. In the end, an organic label says little about soil health, biodiversity, and the quality of life of farmers. That is why it is worth looking more closely. Only agroforestry is truly sustainable agriculture for all living beings.

The Maya Mountain Research Farm, a pilot project for permaculture research in Belize, counted more than 150 different bird species in its agroforest. Conventional monocultures do not provide shelter for nearly as many animal species. Agroforest systems, also called permaculture, can be used all over the world. The permaculture movement is gaining traction among farmers around the globe, and that is hardly surprising. Permaculture saves farmers a great deal of work and lets them plan decades into the future.

Imagine you are a cacao farmer with a monoculture of cacao trees. The beans are therefore everything you can sell, perhaps several tons per year. Now imagine the global market price for cacao, which is traded on the stock exchange, collapses. Suddenly, you may have lost money that year instead of earning it. You have to take out a loan just to keep operating.

Or worse: imagine your cacao trees become diseased. Suddenly you can only harvest 50% of your crop, while your costs increase because of pesticides if the cacao is not organic. You are facing bankruptcy.

If, on the other hand, you manage an agroforest farm, you can also sell vanilla, bananas, coffee, nutmeg, and more. You get the idea: the possibilities are almost endless. Which system would you choose: monoculture or agroforest?

The answer is clear, because only agroforests create a sustainable economic climate for producers of tropical export goods.

Soils are sensitive ecosystems that have formed over tens of thousands of years. They are full of nutrients. When only one plant species is grown in a soil system, only certain nutrients are removed from the soil. When that happens, the missing nutrients have to be added artificially as fertilizer.

In nature, of course, there are no artificial nitrate fertilizers. Nature has developed a sophisticated ecosystem in which one plant species provides other plant species with exactly the nutrients they need to survive. Agroforestry tries to use precisely these symbioses.

The Research Institute of Organic Agriculture (FiBL) compared agroforest systems with conventional monocultures in a long-term study over 20 years. What did they find? Organically managed agroforests may produce the lowest cacao yield per hectare, but overall they can help farmers achieve higher income and more stable income security. Farmers are less dependent on international price fluctuations or crop failures because they grow many different products. You can find the study here.