Dari-K, a Japanese-owned and based chocolate maker company, together with Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) recently finished its feasibility study focusing on the promotion of cacao production in Mindanao as part of its partnership program with different Japanese SMEs endeavoring to alleviate the poverty conditions of its partner countries.
Under this program, about 200 farmers from Davao, which supplies 80% of the countries’ cacao exports will benefit from the technical assistance training that will be started soon.
This cooperative venture between Philippines and Japan’s Dari-K aims to develop the capabilities of local farmers in processing cacao into premium products and eventually encourage these farmers to become entrepreneurs. In the past, Dari-K had done this same effort to increase productivity of farmers in Indonesia and is now gearing towards the same model for the Philippines