Poverty in the Philippines today is still prevalent and according to The World Bank two-thirds of the poor come from the agricultural/farming sectors and have an elementary school education or less.
A relatively underdeveloped field in the Philippines, the local cocoa bean industry, sees much growth potential in the near future as demand for cocoa beans is steadily rising and a worldwide shortage inhibits the global chocolate supply.
Hiraya Chocolates, a Filipino bean-to-bar chocolate company that is an advocate of fair, sustainable, and socially-conscious practices, created a crowdfunding project to help the local cocoa bean farmers they source their raw materials from. The goal is to raise at least PHP 85,000 for the cacao farmers in Davao for the construction of a community-based post-harvest facility, which will help increase the farmers’ incomes by 200%.
HOW TO HELP:
1) To fund this Spark Project, visit https://www.thesparkproject.com/projects/view/Hiraya-Chocolates
2) Choose your REWARD on the right-hand side
3) Click “Back this Project”
Hiraya hopes for the Philippines to be a major player in the global chocolate market by promoting locally-grown cacao beans made into quality bean-to-bar chocolate and chocolate products.
The raised funds of the campaign will be allocated as follows:
- A total of PHP 60,000 will be used to construct a fermentation facility for the community in Malabog, Davao. This will cover the cost of total materials (cement, gravel, wood, etc.) and labor.
- The rest will be used to cover costs and fees associated with running the campaign, including the costs and logistics involved in preparing and sending out of rewards.
- Excess funding will be used to fund the propagation of criollo seedlings.
In the spirit of the giving season, do consider helping your fellow Filipinos, some of the poorest in the country – the local farmers – by donating to this campaign.
For further details and to support this cause, please click HERE
Info: hirayachocolates@gmail.com
