The 10-person delegation — which included distributors, community groups and representatives of farmers in the country’s Maprik district — were shown around craft chocolate company Ocho’s Roberts St factory yesterday.
Ocho sources its cocoa beans from Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Samoa and Fiji.
Bumbita Community Development Association president Joseph Kapis said the visit had given them a clearer picture of what happened once the cocoa left the hands of producers.
Ocho chocolate had a ‘‘unique’’ taste, Mr Kapis said.
‘‘Especially when the chocolate comes from your own beans, it has a special connection to you.’’
The visit was ‘‘a rare privilege and these are stories we'll take back’’.
So far, they had only viewed cocoa as a means to raise money and did not connect it to the chocolate itself.
They were only able to buy it once in a while.
‘‘We definitely would want that, one day, where we are able to have what we see here, get our farmers to actually produce their own chocolate, so that they can appreciate why we need to pay attention to certain things that enable quality,’’ Mr Kapis said.
If they could eat the chocolate more often, they would know which processes influenced the taste and flavour outcomes.
‘‘Maybe, it can really help us to become better farmers.
‘‘The end consumers on the other side require a certain flavour and that certain flavour can only be produced by observing these protocols.’’
Papua New Guinea High Commissioner Sakias Tameo said the visit was very important.
‘‘For the farmers to come and engage with the processes is very important so that they can have that connectivity in their relationship going forward.
‘‘We're proud that the cocoa beans are high quality, and the factory is producing high quality that the international consumers need.’’
It was great to have tasted chocolate made from Papua New Guinea beans, Mr Tameo said.
The farmers were also able to share their stories about what happened at a community level, which was important for their relationship with Ocho.
‘‘They produce high-quality, premium cocoa and the company can also produce the high-quality chocolate, and that's great for us.’’
