Grenada Cocoa Association

The Grenada Cocoa Association is a cooperative that brings together the majority of the island’s producers, who number about 3,000 families. Cocoa is cultivated in mixed-crop “creole” family gardens, using a local agroforestry model that combines cocoa with spice, nutmeg and clove crops, as well as fruit and vegetables. This is a real part of the social, cultural and familial fabric in this small Caribbean nation nicknamed “spice island”.

Founded in 1964, the Grenada Cocoa Association is the island’s only cocoa producer cooperative. It manages the nurseries created in 1948 by the Ministry of Agriculture, which imported cacao trees from the neighboring island of Trinidad and distributed them locally. The Association prepares its members’ cocoa (all of it Fairtrade-certified) in various collection centers.

Valrhona and the Grenada Cocoa Association signed a partnership in 2015. Together, we developed a cocoa preparation protocol that provides a very specific camphor-inflected aromatic product, to the great pride of the Association’s teams.

The Grenada Cocoa Association’s structuring role makes it an obvious partner for Valrhona, and the organization perpetuates traditional and family-based approaches to cocoa-growing in mixed-crop gardens, using agricultural practices that respect the environment. Today, Valrhona is a major partner to the Grenadian cocoa industry.