A craft chocolate company in Wellington is launching a Kickstarter campaign today to create a new chocolate bar made with cocoa beans from Bougainville.
The Wellington Chocolate Factory plans use the money raised to help improve the region's cocoa industry.
Cocoa beans from Central and South America come in to be transformed into high-quality treats, and now owners Gabe Davidson and Rochelle Harrison want to tap into the Pacific market.
"The aim of the campaign is to put Bougainville on the map as a world-class cocoa region," says Mr Davidson.
Mr Davidson went to Bougainville in June and was struck by how passionate people are about cocoa.
"It's their main industry, so anyone you speak to in Bougainville, they're involved in one way or another."
Years of civil war and neglect made the industry suffer, and growers are paid very little for their beans.
"There's no real incentive for quality when they get the same price regardless, so what we're trying to do is help them improve their quality so they can get a better price for their cocoa," says Mr Davidson.
The idea is for Mr Davidson and Ms Harrison to travel to Bougainville and buy cocoa beans at a fair price. They'll then bring them home on a sailing ship and turn them into a uniquely flavoured Bougainville bar.
They'll also upgrade a plantation belonging to local grower James Rutana, who'll travel back on the ship as well to see his beans turned into chocolate.
"He was very excited to learn of this new revolution, the craft chocolate revolution, that focuses on quality, not quantity," says Mr Davidson, who hopes this campaign could be the start of something bigger.
"If we can prove this is a working, sustainable model in Bougainville, then we can look to other countries in the south Pacific to work directly with and windsail their cocoa beans to New Zealand."
Mr Davidson has a ship lined up for the voyage that can carry one tonne of Mr Rutana's beans. That will make 12,000 bars – enough for those who pledge to the campaign and for the growers themselves, many of whom have never tasted the product of their labour.
3 News
source: newshub archive
