The first solidarity economy chocolate factory in the country was inaugurated this Monday (6th) in the city of Ilhéus, in the south of Bahia. The equipment should benefit the cocoa produced in the region and offer assistance to solidary economic enterprises, between income generation and the qualification of chocolate from the south coast of the state.
“ChocoSol is an important gain for the cocoa socio-productive chain in Bahia. With this equipment managed by the Josué de Castro Beneficent Association (ABJC), through the Public Center for Solidarity Economy (Cesol) Litoral Sul, we complete the socio-productive assistance chain from planting to processing with the manufacture of chocolates. It will be a space for enterprises to learn good production practices and add value to chocolates. ABJC’s role is to mediate this processing that will expand income generation and qualify cocoa production in the territory”, reiterates the president of ABJC, Diego Felisardo.
According to the general coordinator of Cesol Litoral Sul, Thiago Fernandes, around 300 cocoa farming families that work in the solidary economy will benefit from the unit. ChocoSol is headquartered on the Uesc campus, in Bairro Salobrinho.
“ChocoSol represents a breakthrough in the public policy of solidarity economy at the time it points to the path of creating a kind of “solidarity territorial productive arrangement”, as it constitutes a modern equipment made available for learning, process innovation, research and social production at the service of solidarity enterprises in the chocolate chain”, evaluates the state superintendent of Solidarity Economy at Setre, Wenceslau Júnior.
Structure
The factory has the seal of approval of the Department of Work, Employment, Income and Sports of Bahia (Setre), which invested R$ 523 thousand in public equipment. ChocoSol has the capacity to produce up to 1.2 tons of chocolates from Monday to Friday.
With 300m², the structure has 10 machines in operation, in addition to a cold chamber and 20 types of polycarbonate and polypropylene molds.
In the future, the factory intends to expand the operation to include other territories such as the Baixo Sul, Far South, Discovery Coast and Middle Rio de Contas.