Compañías Muzo Colombia

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Furatena Cacao, the new era of the cacao bean to the chocolate bar

The social initiative of the Muzo Foundation to generate added value for cocoa farmers in the Western Boyacá.

In 2014, working towards the commitment of The Muzo Companies to develop social initiatives and progresses in the municipalities of Western Boyacá, Furatena Cacao was born. This initiative seeks to provide a real solution to the lack of alternatives and sustainable sources of income, which is often a problem in communities relying on the “guaquería” and informal or artisanal mining. Furatena Cacao grew as an option for support, legal and formal resources, aiding the families of the miners, especially those in the communities of Muzo and Quípama where Esmeraldas Mining Services (EMS) operates. This project quickly spread to the entire the province.

 

Its formation arose after carrying out a diagnosis in the region, which resulted in a productive potential in cacao farming areas with rich soil. Since then, Furatena Cacao began a process of assistance and socio-business advicing, generating a profitable alternative for farmers, informal miners and families in the region. Due to the excellent results of this social project, in 2015 it managed to establish itself as a formal company. Since then, it has been marketing this emblematic Colombian product nationally and internationally.

 

Constituted as the main cocoa trader and exporter in the western province of Boyacá, record export figures have been achieved in recent years and more than a thousand families have been benefited with this process. As a consequence, the growing of cacao has become an alternative for employability and sustenance different from mining, which has been a fundamental part of the cultural tradition of these municipalities, but which, due to the circumstances of informality that for years submmited the region, left a state of inequality and instability that The Muzo Companies Colombia has been overcoming and transforming.

The project that was born as a social initiative, it has acquired such magnitude and importance that, starting in 2022, Furatena Cacao decided to take another step towards success in the value chain of the chocolate industry, stablishing a full-equipped factory of chocolates with social purposes. For this, a series of high-tech machines have been acquired that allow transforming the cacao bean to the chocolate bar, which is called Bean-to-Bar business model, seeking to promote the best qualities of cacao growing, and adding value to the processes by turning it into a different products sold in the national and international markets.

 

Altogether, The Muzo Companies have made the decision to strengthen and increase efforts in the social field. For this reason, three technicians from Furatena Cacao joined the Fundación Muzo team, complementing and giving technical and social value to each of the processes that are developed with the families.

 

The project seeks to extend its action to 1,000 families in the region, promoting and developing sowing, harvesting and product improvement activities, providing inputs, tools and excellent technical assistance, which allows obtaining seeds of high quality standards and in this way, provide Furatena Cacao with the raw material for the production of premium products of this cacao.

Muzo