We grow cocoa for chocolate
Does chocolate grow on trees?
Yes! It begins with a tree
Chocolate comes
from the inside of a
cocoa bean.
Cocoa beans grow inside pods on
cocoa trees
From cocoa beans to your place
The story of
chocolate is a
story like many
other foods.
It takes many
different people
doing different
jobs.
Here is a cocoa tree nursery in
Papua New Guinea.
Shhhhhh – baby chocolate trees
are growing!
The baby cocoa trees need looking
after. What do they need?
Fiona is by a net
which stops
coconuts from
falling on the
young cocoa
trees.
Cocoa pods
After a few years the trees grow
big cocoa bean pods. These are
nearly ripe for picking.
When the bean pods get
picked they will go
to the fermentary.
The beans are covered in a
sticky white goo.
They need to ferment for
about a week until the
beans are no
longer bitter.
The beans go on a boat trip
After the wet beans are dried they get put
into bags. The cocoa beans then go on a
boat and travel to the mainland about
700km away.
Planting and growing cocoa was a lot of
work. The farmer has a family to look after.
How much is a bag of beans?
The farmer will get
paid NZ$300 for a
100kg bag of beans.
It’s important he
gets paid a fair price.
Why is that?
The bags of cocoa get sent across the sea.
They end up at a chocolate factory.
There are chocolate factories in PNG.
Do we make chocolate in New Zealand?
Who do the NZ chocolate factories buy their
cocoa from?
Fair pay, fair price
Next time you buy cocoa or
chocolate, check out the label.
Where did it come from?
Did the farmers get paid a fair
price?
What can you find out
about fair trade
chocolate?
Would you like to help Jerolyn?
The families on Kapo Island need
another 35,000 cocoa seedlings.
The families on Kapo Island need a strong
boat to take their cocoa beans to the city.
A canoe won’t do!
Can you raise some
money to help?
Any ideas?
We would love to be
able to help them. But
we need you to help us.
Acknowledgements
Thanks to the families on Kapo Island,
Papua New Guinea for allowing us to spend
time with them so we could tell this story.
Thank you to Fr Edward Mali, Diocese of Kimbe
& Matthias Ire, Caritas Papua New Guinea –
Diocese of Kimbe.
Photos by Fr Philip Gibbs
Visit September 2012.
www.caritas.org.nz
2013