HISTORY OF MATASAWALEVU COCOA PROJECT

The Matasawalevu Cocoa Farm is located in Dreketi, Macuata, in the hills of Northern Fiji, 16°33’ S Latitude and 178°52’ E Longitude. It is located in Vanua Levu, the secound largest island of Fiji. It is one of the larger cacao farms in Fiji and started operations around 1979. The farm once covered an area of 400 acres but at present consists of approximately 100 acres of Forestero Amelonado cacao. The Matasawalevu farm has a well established reputation of producing quality cocoa and post-harvest processing operations closely follow traditional techniques.

Cocoa was introduced in Fiji in 1880 by the British with several varieties Trinitario from Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) and Trinidad . The modern day development of the industry was initiated in 1960's when the government made efforts to establish cacao as a smallholder crop to be interplanted with coconut. The Amelando variety was introduced as it proved to be relatively disease resistant. Although the government efforts and increased prices resulted in an upswing in the industry during the second half of the 60's, exports lingered at insignificant levels until the mid 70's and did not take off considerably until the early 1980's as world prices increased.

Following independence, there was a large government led cocoa expansion program based on Amelonado variety. Fijian cocoa production remained fairly constant during the 80's and peaked at all time high of 468 tonnes in 1987. The industry demised following the military coup of 1987.

Country: Fiji Islands, South Pacific

Origin: Matasawalevu, Dreketi.

Province: Macuata

Nearest Towns: Labasa, Savusavu

Varietal Composition: Highly flavored Forestero Amelonado

Terroir: Located in Northern Fiji, on a hilly farm, with an ideal microclimate for cultivating cocoa

Harvest: Mid-March-May / October- December

Fermentation Method: Four Tiered hardwood box fermentation

Drying style: Sun dry

Bean count: 87 beans per 100 grams

Process: Centralized fermentary and drying facility. Fresh cacao is loaded into 3-tier hardwood fermentation boxes and closely monitored for 5-7 days with daily bean rotation. Fully fermented cacao is dried on decks for approximately 1 week. Each batch is raked regularly each day and hand sorted into GrainPro sealed bags for export.