TheSt.Vincent
CocoaCompany Cocoa was grown extensively in St. Vincent until the early 20th Century when the banana industry rose to pre-eminence in the 1970s. The latter was the backbone of the agricultural economy until a fall in tariff protections for bananas exported from the Caribbean into the EU, created a steady decline. Alongside rising world demand, this was seen as prime opportunity to create a cocoa industry in St Vincent, which has perfect growing conditions for cocoa and the attraction of being a single-source location. The St Vincent Cocoa Company (SVCC) was therefore formed in 2011 by Armajaro, a European cocoa trading company.
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St. Vincent
But in 2014, when the Company ran into financial difficulty, it was bought by Ecom Agrotrade Ltd, an international commodity conglomerate, which decided that the St Vincent cocoa project did not fit in with their plans. Fortunately, Harry Marriott and Andrew Hadley (both Vincentians) who had been involved from project inception, with faith in the potential of the business and not wanting to let down its farmers, the country or its Government, quickly acquired the SVCC in September 2014. Marriott, its Chairman, now living and operating in St. Vincent & the Grenadines (SVG), was raised on a winery-olive farm in Portugal and is well versed in