La Loma, December 6, 2024
As part of its commitment to contribute to productive diversification and the economic reconversion of the Cesar department, Drummond Ltd., in partnership with Socodevi and the Embassy of Canada in Colombia, strengthened more than 100 families of the Perijá Cocoa Growers Association (Asocope) by providing a Collection Center and administrative offices in the municipality of Agustín Codazzi.
This inauguration took place within the framework of the project “Drummond in partnership with Agroemprende Cacao,” which is part of the company’s social investment plan aimed at improving the productivity and competitiveness of cocoa cultivation in Agustín Codazzi,” commented Amalí Blanco Bohórquez, coordinator of corporate social responsibility projects at Drummond Ltd.
Agroemprende Cacao is a program developed by Socodevi, which is supported nationally by the Embassy of Canada in Colombia and other actors from the public, private, and international cooperation sectors, who have been contributing to the cocoa value chain at each of its links since 2019.
Since 2022, we started a strategic alliance with Drummond, which also includes the Government of Canada through its embassy in Colombia. We have strengthened Asocope with productive infrastructure; three processing plants, the renewal of 75 hectares of cocoa, and various activities for technical, business, and women’s leadership strengthening that have allowed the association to market cocoa abroad,” detailed Alexander Arévalo, operations director of Socodevi for the Agroemprende Cacao program.
The alliance aims to strengthen and consolidate the productive work of family cocoa companies, as well as the development of business management and governance practices of Asocope. The support provided to the participants includes strategies that address cocoa production, from cultivation to the marketing of dry beans, with the aim of stabilizing purchase and sale prices, which will undoubtedly improve the quality of life for cocoa farmers in the municipality of Agustín Codazzi.
The Drummond and Socodevi project has meant everything to us because thanks to this we have strengthened. It has been comprehensive because it saw the needs that we, the farmers in the region and the cocoa growers, really have. The Collection Center is very important because it is the first one we have. This marks a before and after in the history of Asocope. We already have a place to arrive, where to store the cocoa and where to market our product,” said Liliana Angulo, legal representative and president of the board of directors of Asocope.
Acknowledgment to women of Asocope
In the context of the inauguration of the Collection Center, a group of women who are part of the association received recognition for having participated in a Women’s Leadership program.