na floresta/nakau

The promotion of native cacao from the Amazon and the involvement of agroextractive riverside communities in the chocolate supply chain are strengths of Na Floresta, a company with a social and environmental impact whose main product – Na’kau chocolate – is already well known.

The company was created in 2013 by biologist Artur Coimbra with the spirit of conserving the forest and bringing economic sustainability to its people through the supply of ethical and healthy food. The main product is chocolate, which started to be produced in 2017.

In addition to the bars with varying percentages of cacao, the production of raw cacao nibs and the Sustainable Partnerships line also stands out, which mixes chocolate with genuinely Amazonian ingredients, such as agroforestry coffee, Baniwa pepper, Brazil nuts and cupuassu.

The producers operated by the company are located on the Madeira and Amazonas rivers, in 6 municipalities. Eight families – who provide raw material and receive technical support for production – are directly impacted and, indirectly, another 24 producers, who establish some type of relationship with the company’s production chain, are impacted. According to data from Na Floresta, household income increased by about 120% in relation to cacao income.

Leandro Oliveira, Artur’s partner, is the son of an extractivist. Born in Lábrea, in Amazonas, he knows the reality of the riverside people up close: “My father was an extractive worker his entire life, he collected Brazil nuts, rubber, and also produced manioc flour. When he passed away, I left the countryside and moved to the city. We worked in a sustainable way, and when we sold the nut, the price that went out to the end consumer was a thousand times the amount we sold to the middleman. We have this unique characteristic, of valuing the producer, the work of these people”, he evaluates.

This appreciation is visible in the packaging of the chocolate, which brings the stages of the preparation process starting with the harvest and the faces and names of the extractivist cacao suppliers. You can follow the path and the people involved until you reach the tasty bar.

The production is marketed at fairs and events, natural product stores, supermarkets of gourmet products and points of sale in tourist places. Chocolates are already present in nine Brazilian states and also in the USA, Portugal, Switzerland, Germany and Japan.

For the future, the company plans to expand its points of sale and diversify its product portfolio.