In our sourcing approach in El Salvador, we found in Hacienda La Carrera a solid structure with a highly qualified cacao team, made up of agronomists, production and post-harvest managers. The farm has a fermentation and drying station with optimal conditions, managed very rigorously. All these factors guarantee us top-quality cacao .
Hacienda La Carrera is currently the largest plantation we work with, and has been a strategic ally for Belco in this first import. With it, we grouped together lots from 4 other farms. The team on site ensured that the cocoa from these other producers could be stored in their warehouses for quality control.
Jairo Vigil, the Managing Director, is a cocoa taster with a very broad vision of cacao , from farming practices to the finished product. He initiated a number of changes in the organisation by integrating Hector Garcia as Quality Manager. Hector is one of El Salvador's most renowned and passionate cacao tasters. They are both members of the 'Mesa nacional de catadores de cacao', a group of tasters trained at Peru's national university to improve the quality of Salvadoran cacao through their assessments and recommendations.
One of Hacienda La Carrera's latest major projects is the construction of a fully-equipped quality control laboratory for cacao analysis, as well as all the professional equipment needed to manufacture cacao liqueur and chocolate. As well as having qualified staff, Hacienda La Carrera is an exemplary plantation, preserving old varieties of cacao trees and shade trees over 100 years old. The plantation is a forest and a refuge for animals, some of which are endangered, such as the spider monkey and migratory birds.
