LIVE LONG COCOA PARTNER: SOCIÉTÉ MILLOT
In 1906, Lucien Millot created the plantation in Andzavibe that today still bears his name. The Société Millot manages nearly 1,300 hectares and employs almost 500 people. Valrhona has had a relationship in Madagascar with Millot for over 30 years. Today, we have exclusive purchasing rights over all of the cocoa grown on the Millot plantation – an organic certified plantation spanning around 600 hectares – as well as over the cocoa grown by a network of local producers. In 2016, Valrhona and Millot decided to take their historic partnership even further, and Valrhona became a shareholder in the Société Millot. This significant investment allows us to cement our shared ambitions and together build our long-term development plan.
Alongside this work, for many years Valrhona has supported the financing of local infrastructure. This support has not only focused on cocoa-producing facilities but has also to improve living conditions in producer communities. In addition to this long-term support, some of the Valrhona’s customers have asked to be involved in various individual projects, such as digging a well to give access to drinking water and providing school equipment for plantation workers’ children.
M. Libanio Plantation, Brazil
In the Northeast of Brazil, in the province of Bahia, lies the Mata Atlantica, one of the richest ecosystems in the world. This tropical forest, weakened by intensive deforestation, has been classified as a "Biosphere Reserve" by UNESCO. Here, farmers use the Cabruca system to protect cocoa trees from the weather while also preserving biodiversity. This involves planting larger trees such as rubber and fruit trees over smaller trees such as cocoa. Our commitment to biodiversity and sustainable development has led us to invest in the area over the course of the last twenty years, providing economic and social support to producers.
It is against this backdrop of unprecedented botanical wealth that ITAKUJA was born. ITAKUJA comes from the name of the town of Itacare, situated near the M. Libanio plantation in Brazil, and “mara kuja”, the word for “passion fruit” in the indigenous Tupi language of Brazil. This couverture, which marries Brazilian cocoa with passion fruit through the process of double fermentation, is the result of a longstanding partnership between Valrhona and the M. Libanio plantation. Driven by the same cocoa cultivation philosophy and a shared respect for people and biodiversity.
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