EIGHT cocoa farmers from Tailevu will visit Sweden in September to develop their skills in cocoa production and chocolate making.
Tailevu Provincial Council chairman Josefa Serulagilagi says the visit is the result of an understanding between the governments of Fiji and Sweden.
He says eight experts from Sweden have been in the country conducting workshops on chocolate production.
Seruilagilagi said, “We’ve done an exercise in Namau last week and children from Namau going to school and carrying their own chocolates, that’s the local one being done in their own backyards and everybody was quite surprised with what’s happened now because of the differences in price and the kind of chocolate they will get. So they are in the country right now by Saturday they are going to go back after gathering so many information we have over here. And in there they are going to let us to come over to Sweden”.
Seruilagilagi says since the workshops, several producers at Namau begun producing cocoa drinks.
He says discussions on the establishment of a chocolate factory in the province have also been fruitful.
