El Cacao
Did you know that since 2012 Ritter Sport has been the proud owners and operators of a 2,500-hectare cocoa plantations (= 5000 football pitches!) in Nicaragua called ‘El Cacao’? You do now!
Ritter Sport was one of the first and still one of the only major block chocolate brands to own a plantation and grow their own cocoa. This gives us transparency across the supply chain on the cocoa grown there, from bean to bar.
To date we have grown and planted 1 million+ cocoa trees utilising the sustainable agroforestry land use management system in which trees or shrubs are grown around crops to increase yields and build biodiversity. We’ve built 100KM of roads, a great example of the sheer scale of our commitment. Most importantly we employ 500+ colleagues all paid above average pay for the area and who are all given access to healthcare and our education and training centre ‘La Academia’.
Half of the entire 2,500-hectare area is permanently preserved for nature, never to be cultivated. It’s no surprise then that Don Choco and his friends have set up home there.
