ACTIVITIES to further promote cacao farming and production in Davao Region this year are underway, Philippine Cacao Industry Development Council (PCIDC) President Valente Turtur announced on Wednesday.
Turtur said there will be a two-day chocolate-making training seminar on February 27 and 28, tentatively at the Philippine Women's College.
"We will be picking 50 chocolate practitioners who are already into chocolate-making. A chocolate expert from USA will be coming to conduct the training," Turtur said, adding that the training seminar will aid the quality of chocolates in the region.
On March 2 and 3, a technical workshop on cacao production and post-harvest will be conducted by PCIDC. They already invited cacao experts and growers all over the country. The second day will be open to invited growers to learn from the invited experts.
The PCIDC is also looking forward to the Island KakaoKonek Trade Fair, a business matching event. The objective of the trade fair is to connect and perform trades among different islands in the country.
The trade fair will be in Cebu City, Cagayan de Oro City, and Pampanga or Nueva Ecija.
Turtur said they also look forward to the National Cacao Congress in May that will be conducted in Cebu.
"There's a lot of things going on with cacao and we hope we will be able to produce only premium cocoa beans because we are trying to come up with best cocoa, similar with that of South American cocoa," Turtur said.