Making chocolate - and defying the odds - in Peru’s VRAEM region

The VRAEM region of Peru, where 77% of families live in poverty, is notorious for producing the coca leaves used in illegal cocaine production.
With a Lutheran World Relief women’s empowerment project, women left behind by the illicit trade have begun growing cacao - the seed from which chocolate is made - to increase their incomes and cultivate healthier futures for their families.
In 2018, Lutheran World Relief helped to establish a women’s cacao farming cooperative called Qori Warmi (which translates to “Women of Gold”). Through the cooperative, women farmers have gained confidence and independence as they learn to grow a native variety of fine aromatic cacao highly sought after in the global cocoa market.
Going beyond bean to bar, Qori Warmi is truly a seed to bar operation, because the women have learned all aspects of growing and processing cacao - from the cultivation of the soil all the way through production and marketing.
"Before Qori Warmi, we did not ferment cacao correctly," says member Daria Hinostroza Prado. "The middlemen would come, look at our cacao and say the quality was not good, and they would have control over setting the price. Now they pay us the price that we demand."
Qori Warmi’s chocolate company, Tsinane, has consistently won awards at international chocolate competitions since it was established. As recently as 2023, they took home a gold medal at the prestigious Salon du Chocolat in Paris.
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In Peru, Corus organization Lutheran World Relief partners with local communities and organizations to implement programs focused on agriculture, climate resilience, market systems and economic empowerment.
Lutheran World Relief (LWR) has worked in Peru since 1979, partnering with local non-governmental organizations (NGOs), governments, rural enterprises and farmers to promote climate resilient livelihoods, especially in the cocoa sector, and natural resource management, as well as to increase the effectiveness of public and private investments in rural development initiatives. A hallmark of LWR’s work in Latin America has been the development and use of digital platforms to reach more people more quickly with information and services that range from the best practices in cacao farming to practical tips on how to rebuild one’s life in a new country.
The Qori Warmi women’s cacao cooperative was first supported by LWR in the project “Qori Warmi: Women changing the face of the VRAEM.” The follow-on LWR project helped to advance LWR’s Rural Economies and Agricultural Livelihoods (REAL) approach: “Mujeres, fuerza REAL de cambio en el VRAEM” (Women, REAL force of change in the VRAEM).
Learn more about our work in Peru ➡️ lwr.org/where-...
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Corus International is a relief and development organization committed to overcoming poverty and suffering for those living in the world’s toughest and most difficult circumstances. Corus unites an array of nonprofit organizations and businesses, each with specialized expertise - from health to technology to economic development to emergency response.
Corus features global public health leader IMA World Health, international development and aid organization Lutheran World Relief, technology for development consultancy CGA Technologies, impact investing firm Ground Up Investing, and direct-trade company Farmers Market Brands. Corus brings together the traditional and nontraditional approaches to deliver the multi-dimensional, holistic solutions needed to truly achieve lasting change.
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