Abstract

GARCIA-BRIONES, Ana R.; PICO-PICO, Bryan F.  and  JAIMEZ, Ramón. The Cacao production chain in Ecuador: Resilience in the different production actors. Novasinergia [online]. 2021, vol.4, n.2, pp.152-172.  Epub Dec 01, 2021. ISSN 2631-2654.  https://doi.org/10.37135/ns.01.08.10.

Abstract:Cocao is one of the traditional Ecuadorian export products. In the last three years, Ecuador has been the third-largest producer in the world. Several factors, such as climate change, high cadmium (Cd) concentrations, and the global pandemic of COVID-19, are influencing the Ecuadorian cacao production chain. Based on an analysis of the characteristics of the Ecuadorian cocoa production and marketing chain, the production and export data, the features of the types of cocoas, the types of producers, it is shown that this country has great potential to remain within production standards. Although some previous plans have been proposed for the competitive improvement of Ecuadorian cacao, based on the production chain, these plans have not considered the farmer's production environment. The analysis of the different factors that intervene in the cacao chain has allowed concluding that the resilience of the Ecuadorian cacao production depends on the articulation of five actions based on: (1) improving the rural environment of the producer, (2) promoting associativity and cooperativity, (3) improve productivity and consumption in the national market, (4) consolidate the international market, (5) and research focused on improvement. These are proposals that are proposed as axes of work in the medium term. Therefore, it is imperative to engage them in action to provide further resilience to the production chain.

Keywords : Cacao marketing; CCN 51; chocolate; cooperativism; ecuadorian cacao; fine aroma cacao; Theobroma cacao.

        · abstract in Spanish     · text in Spanish     · Spanish ( pdf )