In Sao Tome, "the chocolate island", the cocoa sector relies on the top of the range

The jaw closes on the small ball of melted chocolate.

And the ginger bursts in the mouth.

A delight.

Quick, another!

Coffee, pepper, fleur de sel ... And especially black, as close as possible to the pure and intense taste of cocoa beans harvested on its plantations on the island of Principe.

The first cocoa producer at the end of the 19th century, the small Portuguese-speaking archipelago lost almost all of its production in the second half of the 20th century.

Today, a few entrepreneurs are bringing the industry back to life by focusing on high-end chocolate.

"Focusing on quality is the only option to survive," Jean-Rémy Martin, a Frenchman who took over a dying old plantation in the north of France about ten years ago, told AFP. the island of Sao Tome, in Diogo Vaz, and who created with his son his brand of chocolate of the same name.

On the slopes of an ancient volcano overlooking the Atlantic, cocoa, made from ancient plants imported by the Portuguese in the 18th century, grows under a canopy of 420 hectares in the heart of lush nature.

Mechanization is impossible.

And the fertile soil does not require fertilizers or pesticides.

"Despite our organic certification, growing cocoa alone could not cover the costs," says Mr. Martin.

"To guarantee the sustainability of our activity, we had to keep the added value of the tree until the tablet is marketed, and assume 100% of the processing internally".

"We have thus moved from a reduced monoculture regime to the fixing of cocoa prices by world buyers, to total control of our prices and the valuation of our cocoa in the value chain," he continues.

Since then, Diogo Vaz chocolate has established itself internationally, winning numerous awards, and the margins achieved during processing and marketing allow us to return to production the support necessary to ensure its balance.

At the laboratory of the Diogo Vaz plantation, in Sao Toe on November 19, 2021 Adrien Marotte AFP

Today, around 250 people, almost all from Sao Tome, are employed by the company, which seeks to diversify its production and replicate its model of cocoa for the cultivation of fruits and vanilla, transforming its products into pastry or alcohol.

"Focus on quality"

Same winning bet for Claudio Corallo.

This native Florentine, lover of Africa and specialist in coffee, was a pioneer in seeking to produce excellent cocoa in Sao Tome.

He moved there in the early 90s.

"Me, I do not like chocolate," he said mischievously to AFP.

Its chocolate is, however, today recognized by its peers as one of the best in the world.

His quest was to discover the origin of the bitterness of cocoa in his "laboratories", his plantation in Principe and his workshop in Sao Tome.

Its philosophy, "to use only natural products" to "be in perfect harmony with the environment".

Once the chocolate is ready for tasting, "the main difficulty is exporting" because logistical hassles are commonplace in this central African island, located more than 300 km from the Gabonese coast of the continent.

Cocoa is rooted in the history of Sao Tome and Principe.

At the end of the 19th century, the archipelago was the world's largest producer with nearly 35,000 tonnes per year.

Pushed by the Portuguese colonizer, thousands of immigrants from Cape Verde, Angola and Mozambique came to serve as labor in these plantations under very difficult conditions.

Jean-Rémy Marin on his plantation, in Sao Tome on November 19, 2021 Adrien Marotte AFP

But after independence in 1975, "the Portuguese left with their know-how, epidemics attacked cocoa and the state redistributed land to former employees without any supervision. Production collapsed", explains to AFP Maria Nazaré Ceita, historian at the University of Sao Tome.

"Our whole economy is based on cocoa and the whole population is linked in one way or another to cocoa," said AFP Carlos Vila Nova, president of the Republic of Sao Tome.

"Today, we have a know-how which allows us to know the product very well", he emphasizes.

"In the globalized economy, we must give it added value. We must bet on quality. Thanks to the extension of processing, the future of the sector is growing again," he said.

© 2021 AFP