LGU-Lasam, the Lasam Cacao Growers Association (LCGA), and the Cagayan State University-Lasam campus are signing a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) with five pilot elementary schools this July 4, 2023 for a school-based cacao growing program.

On the same day of the MOA signing, cacao tree planting will already be held in Malinta Elementary School, then in the elementary schools of Gabun, San Pedro, Magsaysay, and Nabannagan West. These five schools were chosen for the soil quality and suitability of their location.

The project is being launched in time for the World Chocolate Day on July 7, and amid intensified enviromental calls to plant more trees in school grounds, in solidarity with the National Disaster Resiliency month.

LGU-Lasam is spearheading this school-based cacao growing initiative as part of its Natalged a Lasam Goal Pilar (NLGP) for agricultural productivity and food security, as well as economic and livelihood development programs.

It can be recalled that Mayor Dante Dante Dexter A. Agatep has expressed all-out support for cacao growing among the farmers in the Municipality for its profitability. He has also reiterated this during the oath-taking of the officers of the LCGA earlier this year.

The demand for processed cacao is enormous because of the huge global chocolate industry. 

As a center for cacao processing in Western Cagayan, CSU-Lasam shared that there is a shortage of cacao produce in the municipality that they resort to sourcing from other towns for them to supply the demand for chocolate products especially their energizing chocolate drink. #

– A. Ursua