While many of Saint Lucia’s hotels boast lovely sandy beaches, Fond Doux Plantation & Resort chose an unconventional, tasty route.
As a young agronomist in the early 1970s, I was asked to undertake a survey of cultural practices in banana fields on the island. Before that I had noticed the felling of mature cocoa trees and virgin forest to make way for banana cultivation. Bananas were then referred to as “green gold!” By its regular fortnightly income, it had attracted part-time farmers who joined the frenzied pursuit of the banana dollar. These, and others, refused to listen to sound agricultural advice to desist from cutting down mature cocoa trees, coconuts and forest trees, for banana cultivation. To the utter dismay and chagrin of the more conscientious agriculture officers, the mad rush for “green gold” continued unabated, supported by ruthless politicians and their servants. It was clearly bad politics for agriculture officers to count the long-term cost of the destruction of forests, cocoa and coconuts.
No politician or civil leader seemed to care sufficiently about the income security of banana farmers, to remind them that Sir Arthur Lewis, the Nobel laureate they like to claim as their own, had warned that economic booms never last; they are often followed by economic busts. Fact is, Saint Lucians too often exhibit an unreasonable fear of truth, preferring to bury their heads in the sand, like the proverbial ostrich. As we celebrate the island’s Nobel laureates and the 40th anniversary of independence, it may be a good time to remind ourselves that the search for factual information and objective truth is an unending one. It gives me no pleasure to observe that the banana boom has long run its course. But I digress!
Conventional wisdom informs us that people who visit our island during winter, do so in search of sun, sea and sand. That explains why so many hotels are built near sandy beaches. Fond Doux Plantation & Resort is an exception. It went against conventional wisdom and established the first genuine plantation resort, boutique hotel on the island, at Fond Doux Estate in Soufriere.
The visionary Lyton Lamontagne and his dear wife Eroline fell in love with the agriculture of their native Soufriere long before the environment and climate change became sexy. Their multi-award-winning resort, which stands on 135 acres of fertile agricultural land, was the first to introduce its visitors to local cocoa production. The “dancing” of dry cocoa beans to cure and polish them for use in making cocoa sticks and refined cocoa is a feature of a visit to their hotel. The finished cocoa product is sold at the resort’s cocoa shop called “Plas Cacao Chocolate Shop” and at Eroline Foods supermarket in downtown Soufriere.
This humble comeback of the cocoa crop, and the idea for guests to enjoy the greenery of nature and plantation life on the island, did not go unnoticed. Soon, farmers and agriculturists were noting the comeback of cocoa and making arrangements to participate in its rebirth. The economic benefits of cocoa, viewed against the threats posed to the vital banana industry, need no elaboration.
Interestingly, the return of cocoa cultivation and processing is being organised very differently to previous practices. The return of cocoa is energized by persons whose first interest is tourism and not cocoa production as such. For example, the Hotel Chocolat group has purchased the Rabot Estate, about two miles from Fond Doux Estate, and has rehabilitated the cocoa crop that once flourished there. The hotel grow its own cocoa and creates a direct connection with its visitors and the finished product, which is refined eating and drinking chocolate. Visitors are afforded an opportunity to tour the cocoa plantation, learn more about the plantation methods, dine on a chocolate-themed menu and even have a try at making their own chocolate. Who said Saint Lucia has nothing to teach investors who are prepared to learn?
For my part, the more exciting aspect of the expansion of cocoa production by Hotel Chocolat is its intention to work with some 200 cocoa farmers on the island as part of the Engaged Ethics Cocoa Programme. The company has set out to buy every cocoa bean the farmers produce and provide these farmers with technical support as well as subsidized Trinitario cocoa seedlings, the type the market demands. This and other private sector initiatives are the best indication that cocoa is poised to make a comeback.
Still in the Soufriere region, Jade Mountain and Anse Chastanet Resorts are producing Emerald Estate Chocolate on-site from cocoa beans grown on their own estate. This effort produces chocolates mainly for consumption at the resorts, and not for export.
The management of Anse Chastanet and Jade Mountain also encourages farmers to produce cocoa beans while urging local independent chocolate-makers to produce chocolate from Saint Lucia for the tourist market.
These stories are new and different from the story of agriculture production and export from Saint Lucia and the Caribbean during the colonial period or at any other time during the early history of the island. The conversion of cocoa beans into high value, refined cocoa products is exactly the type of “value added” that Caribbean thinkers such as George Beckford, C.Y. Thomas, Lloyd Best, Swinbird Lestrade, Vaughan Lewis and Keith Nurse had long advocated. These and other far-sighted thinkers would be happy to witness the transformation that is taking place in cocoa production and refining in Saint Lucia, Grenada and even in Trinidad.
Still, the greatest comeback for cocoa in Saint Lucia, as far as this writer is concerned, is the vision of a national farmers cocoa co-operative, wherein registered cocoa farmers supply quality cocoa beans to a central factory for the production of refined eating chocolate, soaps, creams, liqueurs, desserts and, of course, cocoa beverages.
“Value added” must become the new mantra in the island’s agriculture diversification drive. We must thank the business visionaries in the tourism sector for their motivation as we continue to engage them in a holistic national effort in agriculture diversification and value added, including cocoa production and refinement.
