THE HISTORY OF BLANCPAIN
THE HISTORY OF BLANCPAIN THE HISTORY OF BLANCPAIN
ART DE VIVRE Mauro, an Italian community assistance worker who has been here for twenty years, has a sober – not to say resigned – commentary on this spectacle. “It’s completely surreal, as if a mouse were dying of hunger in a warehouse full of cheese! There are coffee trees all around us and here everything is in a state of neglect.” As a good Italian, Mauro dreams of getting this factory running again, in the context of fair trade with trustworthy investors. Mr. Didier, the last director of Cafema, tells how the company met its demise in 1994. He mentions international competition and wear and tear on the equipment, which could not be replaced due to lack of resources. The ill-advised or ill-intentioned managers in the faraway capital of Antananarivo spent more on extravagances than on parts. He also lets drop the word “privatisation,” so dear to the high priests of liberalism who lay down their law from within the World Trade Organisation (WTO). That was all it took to bring Cafema down and reduce hundreds of families to poverty. Like so many others, Mr. Didier is out of a job. And unemployment is a very strong word in a country that has no unemployment benefits. The former director gets by as best he can, acting as an agent for several non-governmental organisations that work on the island. And the workers? They will have to manage as best they can. And the farmers? They no longer harvest coffee, no buyers want it.
FARMERS IN ACTION Let us now turn our eyes away from this painful picture and move on to the good news. Let us talk about renewal, because better prospects do indeed exist. The small farmers are facing up to the changing economic environment with determination. They are organising with support from European organisations such as AFDI [French Farmers for International Development]. And they have an ace up their sleeve: cocoa. In Ambanja, we met Florian Noviasy, the energetic president of ADAPS [the Sambirano Association for the Development of Agriculture and Small Farmers]. (Sambirano is a district in the Diego province; Ambanja is its capital.) He is the one responsible for bringing together the farmers of this mainly agricultural region. Of the district’s 23 municipalities, 15 have already started cooperatives and joined ADAPS, with goals ranging from protecting the environment to developing food crops (cassava, sweet potatoes and corn) and cash crops such as cocoa, vanilla, pepper and cashew nuts. 78 | 79 Florian Noviasy’s vision of development is very close to the idea of free trade entertained by Mauro. Is this just a utopian dream? No, since European cocoa importers are declaring their readiness to support development efforts by this first link in the production chain. Such is the case, for example, with Ecom Agroindustrial Corporation Ltd., a company headquartered in Pully, in the French-speaking part of Switzerland. It has operations on every continent involving coffee, cocoa and cotton trading, is the leading cocoa importer in the United States, and supplies the main multinational companies. A SOUGHT-AFTER LABEL Cocoa is a real opportunity for the farmers of northwestern Madagascar. Madagascar’s cocoa recently earned the “cocoa fun” label awarded by the London-based International Cocoa Organisation. This classification is based on chemical tests that determine the acidity of the product, which is also tastetested by professionals from around the world.
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- Page 33 and 34: equired before Blancpain in 2003 co
- Page 35 and 36: Blancpain developed a shape which w
- Page 37 and 38: BY JEFFREY S. KINGSTON 34 THE BLANC
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- Page 41 and 42: oker from Alsace, came to the Champ
- Page 43 and 44: Dr. George Derbalian in one of the
- Page 45 and 46: L ES AVENTURES: This is a blend fro
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- Page 49 and 50: Only the cream of the crop work at
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- Page 55 and 56: JOURNEY TO JAPAN The Tobu World Wat
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- Page 59 and 60: Satigny vineyards and “Domaine de
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- Page 63 and 64: Right: Les framboises de Machilly f
- Page 65 and 66: An outrageous introduction, perhaps
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- Page 69 and 70: At midnight this comfortable relati
- Page 71 and 72: Fig. 6 The system for rapid date co
- Page 73 and 74: THE SECRET ART OF SWISS CHOCOLATE O
- Page 75 and 76: Urs Liechti is in charge of a small
- Page 77 and 78: SUCCESS STORY The Sprüngli & fils
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- Page 85 and 86: The ”Over The Rainbow“. Right,
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FARMERS IN ACTION<br />
Let us now turn our eyes away from this<br />
painful picture and move on to the good<br />
news. Let us talk about renewal, because<br />
better prospects do indeed exist. The small<br />
farmers are facing up to the changing<br />
economic environment with determination.<br />
They are organising with support from<br />
European organisations such as AFDI [French<br />
Farmers for International Development].<br />
And they have an ace up their sleeve: cocoa.<br />
In Ambanja, we met Florian Noviasy,<br />
the energetic president of ADAPS [the<br />
Sambirano Association for the Development<br />
of Agriculture and Small Farmers].<br />
(Sambirano is a district in the Diego<br />
province; Ambanja is its capital.) He is the<br />
one responsible for bringing together the<br />
farmers of this mainly agricultural region.<br />
Of the district’s 23 municipalities, 15 have<br />
already started cooperatives and joined<br />
ADAPS, with goals ranging from protecting<br />
the environment to developing food crops<br />
(cassava, sweet potatoes and corn) and cash<br />
crops such as cocoa, vanilla, pepper and<br />
cashew nuts.<br />
78<br />
| 79<br />
Florian Noviasy’s vision of development is<br />
very close to the idea of free trade entertained<br />
by Mauro. Is this just a utopian<br />
dream? No, since European cocoa importers<br />
are declaring their readiness to support<br />
development efforts by this first link in<br />
the production chain. Such is the case,<br />
for example, with Ecom Agroindustrial<br />
Corporation Ltd., a company headquartered<br />
in Pully, in the French-speaking part<br />
of Switzerland. It has operations on every<br />
continent involving coffee, cocoa and cotton<br />
trading, is the leading cocoa importer<br />
in the United States, and supplies the main<br />
multinational companies.<br />
A SOUGHT-AFTER LABEL<br />
Cocoa is a real opportunity for the farmers<br />
of northwestern Madagascar. Madagascar’s<br />
cocoa recently earned the “cocoa fun” label<br />
awarded by the London-based International<br />
Cocoa Organisation. This classification is<br />
based on chemical tests that determine the<br />
acidity of the product, which is also tastetested<br />
by professionals from around the<br />
world.
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