Sustainable Business Development in Nicaragua of High-quality Cocoa

A dedicated approach to linking quality and sustainable practises puts Danish cocoa distributor among the guiding lighthouses of the global cocoa business.

Not that long ago – in 2013 – Danish multi-facetted company, Ingemann, entered the cocoa sector in Nicaragua. They saw a need and potential for lifting the cocoa quality as well as the quality of life among the farming communities.

Already engaged in Nicaragua through bee keeping since 2007 the family-owned company was an experienced multilateral collaborator in the food sector through local partnerships and backed by the Danish International Development Agency.

Today, by focusing especially on varieties, training, and distribution, Ingemann provides the crucial high-end market access to more than 1000 producers. The identified cacao bean varieties hold the potential for a high-quality product. The quality is assured through the implementation of farmer training programmes and a consistent control of the post-harvesting fermentation process. The quality cocoa is finally distributed to high-end chocolate producers and is currently amongst the most award winning in the world.

Today, by focusing especially on varieties, training, and distribution, Ingemann provides the crucial high-end market access to more than 1000 producers

Further, the producers are paid a price among the highest in the world. This encourages the continued cultivation of low-yield, high-quality trees while economically benefitting the farming communities including more than 5000 workers and their families.

However, due to climate changes the working and farming conditions are challenged. Ingemann has therefore initiated the collection and analysis of climatic information to implement climate resilience in the sector. As part of this work is the contribution of reforestation in Nicaragua through the planting of, so far, more than one million cocoa trees.

The combined and dedicated approach to the link between quality and conditions of the raw material and the decisive role of the producers behind it has thus put Danish company Ingemann in the forefront of the global sustainable cocoa production.