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AUI visit to Incasuca Cocoa Plantation
Rio Chico, Venezuela
Incasuca is a company owned 97 % by SIPEF S.A., SIPEF is a large group who owns many companies and plantation in different parts of the world. They manly produce Kautschuk, Palm oil, coffee, tee and cacao.
Incasuca, Rio Chico location exports about 1000 metric tons of cocoa (fermented – dried cocoa beans).
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First cacao was used by indigenous inhabitants who used it for medicine, cosmetics, currency etc. In 1600 first exports were made to Spain. Venezuela was the world most important cocoa producer and exporter in the 17th century. Production decreased a lot during the independence war and does play a minor roll in today’s world cocoa bean production. It is still known for it’s superior quality but nowadays the yearly production is only 15000 tons. Venezuela’s high quality reputation comes from the Criollo beans. The Ocumare, Choroni and Chuao (Criollo types) signify some of the finest grades in the world. The main Cocoa areas are Barlovento (Incasuca company), Oriente and at the foot of the Andes.
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| Plantation Visit |
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The farm we visited has 15 hectares, which is about 40 acres of Cacao Plantation. The Ranchero of the farm guided us through the plantation-jungle. It was warm and very humid and trail we followed through the cocoa campesino must be opened with a machete. As they had a long dry season, there wasn’t that much cacao but the rain season started a few days ago and some cocoa pods could be harvested. There are three different kind of cocoa beans at this farm:
• Criollo (large size red pods), very delicate and with an exquisite aroma. It represents about 10% of the world crop and it comes mainly from Venezuela, Ecuador and Colombia
• Trinitario (small yellow pods), this variety is a cross between the criollo and the forestero. Mainly of Trinidad and Jamaica.
• Forastero (red yellowish color pod), a rather bitter, harsh type of cocoa. It represents the majority of the world production and comes mainly from Ivory Coast, Ghana and Nigeria
On the plantation we had the opportunity to see all 3 varieties since the cocoa trees were mixed into the jungle by natural semination. We also had also the opportunity to taste a freshly cut cocoa pod which tasted sweet, musky with a light acid flavor.
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| Planting |
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The process starts with planting the cocoa bean seeds in a makeshift nursery. Once the young cocoa tree reaches about 1 to 1.5 feet the campesino transplant them into the plantation.
The end quality depends a lot of the genetics of the seeds. For the first three years, the plants need a lot of shade. Therefore the farmer plants bananas and other trees (coconut, ceiba trees etc.) in the same field. After some years the banana plants are cut and the real trees are only left together with the cacao trees. The tree blossoms throughout the year, with an estimated 10’000 to 15’000 small flowers of which 20 to 40 grow into a fruit.
The pods grow directly on the trunk on the thicker branches of the tree. Inside there are 20 to 40 seeds of the cocoa beans and a tree produces between 0.5 and 2 kg (1 to 4.4 lbs) of beans per year. First cacao can already be harvest after 2 to 3 years. The farmer can get the fullest harvest approx. after 5 years until 30 years. The Cacao trees can get approx. 100 years old.
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| Harvest |
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The pods (Cacao fruit) need approx. 5 to 6 months to fully develop. There can be an all year round harvest but the main crops are from November to April (months after the rain season). There is a mid crop season from May to July.
The pods are removed from the trees with a special tool (long wooden stick with a very sharper blade at the end). The women cut the pods, open them and take the beans out with their hands then they will fill the baskets and carry them on top of their heads. They discard the empty pods right in the plantation soil as a natural fertilizer.
After harvesting, the farmers bring the beans to the processing plant (fresh beans) or ferment and dry them themselves on the farm.
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| Fermentation |
Incasuca makes a quality control of the beans that are brought by the farmers. See last page for quality control. The beans are put in wooden cases and covered by banana leaves for the first day. The beans need natural bacteria to ferment and banana leaves will protect the bean from other bacteria, which would have bad influence on the fermentation process.
The fermentation process takes normally 6 to 7 days. Criollo beans need only approx. 3 days. At Incasuca the beans are turned around 3 times during fermentation because the fermenting process results in a lot of heat and it is not equally spread out. To check the fermentation status, some beans are cut open to see the color of the beans that indicates if the fermentation was long enough. (brown=fully fermented, purple=not enough fermented). The beans have still a humidity of 16 to 17 % left after the fermentation.
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| Pre-Drying |
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The beans undergo a pre-drying process for approximately 8 hours at about 60° C (140° F). They are filled in a round mixing drum and turned slowly this prevents them of sticking together. After the pre-drying the beans have humidity content of 12 to 13 % left. The ammoniac that was set free during the fermentation process, starts to evaporate. |
| Drying |
| The beans are dried in a roller drying process with air for 4 to 5 hours to bring the water content down to 8 % (export standard). A lot of manufacturers sell beans to a higher humidity content approx. 9 %. In this case the beans are more likely to mold and the customer doesn’t want to buy water! |
 
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| Conventional Drying by Farmers |
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The farmers bring the beans to the processing plant (fresh beans) or ferment and dry them themselves on the farm. It depends on the weather, if it is rainy season, they bring it to a company because the beans are dried on the road. |
| Sorting and Bagging |
| The beans are sorted for single and double beans. Incasuca only exports the single beans because the double beans (2 beans sticked together) are hard to roast. The double beans go on the local market. The beans are packed in bags of 60 kg (world standard) and then sold. The cacao prices are traded worldwide and the leading cocoa exchange market indications are the terminal market of London and New York. The Venezuelan price is usually slightly higher than the New York exchange price. Ivory Coast beans are normally sold under the New York market price. 50 % of the Venezuelan cocoa beans are bought by Japan. |
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| Quality Control |
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Incasuca controls a 30 % of the beans by “Guillotine system”. They place the beans in a mold (50 beans at once) close it and cut it in the middle with the Guillotine. Incasuca controls the color. The following problems can be discovered:
• Purple = not fully fermented
• Black= slaty beans
• Moldy beans
• Beans affected by insects
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Other characteristics of beans can be tested, the weight and the humidity. The world average weight of the beans is: 93 beans = 100 g. Incasuca beans have an average of 90 beans per 100 g. If the bean count is high (shouldn’t be more than 110 beans for 100 g) means less fat or smaller nip and more shell. Therefore a smaller bean count is better. The average percentage of the shell is 11 to 12 %. A minimum of 11 % shell should be reached to protect the delicate nips well from insects and weather. The average cocoa fat content is 56 to 58 % per dry nib. The criollo bean fat content is less, approx. 53 %. The Forastero beans have a 55 to 59 % fat content.
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