There are almost 13, 000 acres of cacao forests in Baures, Bolivia, and cocoa farming families strive day after day to keep these forests alive.
Carmen Ojopi Duran is a cocoa farmer in the small community of Altagracia. She spends her days collecting ripe cacao pods and carrying them back home, where she carefully cuts them open and puts the seeds in fermenting boxes. After several days of fermenting, she lays the seeds on a drying table to become good-quality cocoa pits. When Carmen's wild cacao is ready to become chocolate, it is sent on a long journey to Sucre. This time, Carmen traveled to Sucre, too, and there she saw exactly how her precious cocoa pods become delicious chocolate for the world to enjoy.
You can read more about Bolivan chocolate farmers and how Heifer helps them preserve the cacao forests and achieve higher incomes right here!
