In partnership with Fundo Vale and local family farmers, sustainable production in the Amazon yielded 1 metric ton of cocoa in just two years

Belterra Agroflorestas, a social and environmental impact business established with support from Fundo Vale, has reached a new milestone in its Amazon operations. The company completed its first cocoa harvest in the municipality of Nova Califórnia, Rondônia, producing 1 metric ton of cocoa from a planting area that is only two years old. The harvest was sent for fermentation and drying in partnership with Dense Intercropped Economic Reforestation (RECA), a pioneering cooperative in the Amazon, located where Rondônia, Acre and Amazonas meet.

The partnership with the cooperative, which brings together hundreds of family farmers and extractive producers across the region, adds value to production, improves product quality and strengthens a value chain built on cooperation, traceability and sustainable development. In Rondônia, Belterra has also partnered with Sovrano, a local company specializing in project development and management.

“This milestone reflects the importance of partnerships that advance the productive restoration agenda in the Amazon, including our collaboration with Fundo Vale, which supports the development of sustainable solutions capable of generating both economic value and environmental conservation,” says Valmir Ortega, CEO of Belterra.

Vale’s 2030 Forest Goal

Belterra was established in 2020 with seed funding from Fundo Vale and has since become a strategic partner in Vale’s 2030 Forest Goal, the company’s voluntary commitment to protect and restore 500,000 hectares by the end of the decade.

“Our work focuses on strengthening the impact business ecosystem, enabling the scaling up of value chains that promote local socioeconomic development while restoring landscapes and biodiversity. Belterra’s first harvest in Rondônia is a major achievement that demonstrates the economic viability of the agroforestry sector as a nature-based solution, especially in the context of the climate crisis,” says Juliana Vilhena, Fundo Vale’s strategy, management and impact manager.

Fundo Vale’s support includes financial solutions such as a blended finance model, in which its catalytic capital serves as a lever to attract private investors and traditional financing. One example is the recent R$100 million investment from the Brazilian Climate Fund and the Brazilian Development Bank (BNDES), which will enable the restoration of 2,750 hectares in Mato Grosso, Bahia, Pará and Rondônia through a total investment of R$135 million.