A Kansan in Nam: Cocoa may someday be king in the Mekong

This past Friday Tucker, Son, and I visited a Helvetas (Swiss Development Agency) cacao project in Ben Tre Province. It took about two hours to drive from Ho Chi Minh City to our destination in the Mekong Delta. We sped along thanks to a rather new 4 lane highway hovering over rice fields and rivers. Apparently it used to take considerably longer before a huge bridge was constructed over the Upper Mekong River. I have to admit, I was a little freaked out being so high up. And after being told that the first bridge they tried to construct collapsed. Good thoughts.

Really Big Bridge over the Upper Mekong River

Having made it safely over the river, we met with the Helvetas Project Manager, Extension Agent, and an official with a leader in the Government's Agricultural Extension Department. We learned a bit about the organization's push for UTZ Certification, a "sustainability program" for coffee, tea, and cocoa.

Getting to drink straight out of a coconut at a meeting is pretty cool

After getting a brief overview of the program, we went to visit a chocolate manufacturer in town. We were treated to some hot chocolate (not exactly the most pleasant drink on a crazy hot day) and some chewy chocolate. Oh, and this was just one day after I finally started feeling better after a few days of being down with stomach issues. I was still having stomach cramps and was not interested in consuming ANYTHING. But I didn't want to be rude, so I drank my glass of hot chocolate quickly. (NEVER do that here! That just means your cup is refilled immediately. I'm learning...slowly...)

Hot and chewy chocolate--a chocolate lover's nightmare on a bad stomach

The businessman we met with has been working in the chocolate industry since 1985. It's only in the past few years that he's returned to Ben Tre to work, as more and more farmers are growing cacao. The office where we met him had a few rooms full of cacao beans ready to be processed into finished products. We also visited his new factory where he'll manage the production himself.

Smelled kinda sickly sweat in the unroasted cacao bean storage room

On the right there's a separate storage area for UTZ Certified cacao beans

Mr. Pham Minh's Chocolate Factory

We then headed to a little restaurant outside of town where many other business and government men go to eat, drink, and be merry over their lunch break. Remember the "working dinner" from my previous blog post? Thankfully, this one was a LUNCH meeting, so it wasn't as intense.

And away we go! (I stuck to water this time)

Tucker: Just rip the head off!

Summer: Ok, but what's that goo coming out?

Tucker: Brains.

Summer: Oh, I thought I could do this but I don't feel so good now...

The guy on the right was emphatic that Tucker and the guy in the middle looked like brothers. (I was also told that I looked like "a movie star...Marilyn Monroe!").

After a long lunch, we headed out to visit 2 cacao farms. Ben Tre has been very successful with cacao production since it has plenty of coconut trees for shade and no lack of water. Many of the Agricultural Extension folks came along, giggling uncontrollably.