Cocaine's supply chain begins with those who grow coca for sale. It's a dangerous crop, embroiling growers in deadly shootouts and financing terrorism. Since the 1980s, a variety of organizations have tried to persuade coca farmers to switch to other crops, with little success. The high profits of coca compared with other crops made the dangers seem worthwhile to many farmers.
Marketing was the missing link. It's all very well to bring seeds and agricultural expertise to a region dependent on a crop like coca, but without buyers, farmers are understandably hesitant to make the change.
Now, a new initiative in Peru has taken a new alternative product all the way to market.
High end cocoa is the new product, and Peruvian farmers growing cacao on their former coca plantations are a success story. Especially with concerns about child labor in some traditional cocoa growing areas such as the Ivory Coast, Peruvian cocoa is in demand.
The effort took cooperation among chocolatiers, government entities, drug enforcement agencies, and agricultural cooperatives, but sales of cocoa from Peru are now ten times what they were in 2003, when the effort began.
It's a success story all around, with environmental and economic benefits as well as a reduction in violent crime.
Chalk up another benefit for chocolate.
