Cacao Knowledge - Starting from a point of curiosity

Before we moved to Davao City in September 2016, we were looking for opportunities in Davao that would 1. Spark our interest and our passion and 2. provide a sustainable income for our family. And I think we found those two things in Cacao Farming.

In June 2016, I enrolled in a Cacao Doctors training program hosted by the Cacao Industry Development Association of Mindanao ( CIDAMI ). I have no agricultural background and have very little insight as to the Cacao Industry in the Philippines.

The training took about 5 days and tackled the global and local industry outlook of Cacao, starting a cacao nursery, proper planting procedures and different types of grafting. To be honest it was a lot to take in for someone like me without any agricultural background but my curiosity about cacao planting and the industry won over any fear that I had during the training. The training that CIDAMI gave us is a good mix of lecture and hands on training in field.

The picture above shows our hands on experience on how to clean cacao seeds for nursery production.

The image above shows a CIDAMI Instructor doing a demonstration of how to graft a cacao seedling.

Mr. Val Turtur executive director of CIDAMI showing us the different parts of the Cacao fruit (pods)

Thanks to CIDAMI, I was able to learn a lot about the Cacao Industry in the Philippines as well as agricultural requirements of Cacao Farming. While their 5 day training was insightful and full of information, I still have a lot to learn when it comes to this industry and hopefully we will be able to develop our very own Cacao Farm soon.

You may check out CIDAMI website and Facebook for training updates:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/cidami.cacao

Website: http://www.cidami.org/

In our next blog, we'll share how our Cacao Culture Farms Nursery started.