Hershey Co. launches initiative to revive cocoa growing in Southern Mexico
The Hershey Co. and cocoa supplier Agroindustrias Unidas de Cacao SA de CV (AMCO), a member of the Ecom Cocoa Group, have launched the Mexico Cocoa Project, a 10-year, $2.8 million initiative to reintroduce cocoa growing in southern Mexico and help restore the country’s down-trodden cocoa farming industry.
For years, Mexico’s cocoa crop has been nearly decimated, largely by moniliasis, also known as frosty pod rot, a disease that attacks the fruit of the cacao tree, causing its cocoa beans to become unusable. The new program should improve the livelihoods of more than 1,000 cocoa farmers and their families in the short-term and put in place the foundation to improve the livelihoods of many more cocoa farmers and their families in the near future.