The Kallari Association is a self-governed coalition of Amazon artists and organic cocoa producers. Their cooperative began in 1997 with less than fifty families and has now grown to over eight hundred families.

Kallari has created sustainable income so Kichwa people can fulfill our basic family needs without logging our rainforests or selling their land. Their export of handcrafts has inspired the Kichwa youth to learn and practice traditional harvesting, dying, weaving and carving techniques. But their special secret is their chocolate. Just ten years ago, middlemen kept profits for themselves and set low prices for cocoa beans. Today Kallari communities sell as a single unit - their leaders travel to Europe and North America to negotiate prices for their harvest. And they have recently taken this empowerment a step further: Kallari has recently announced they are selling gourmet organic fairly traded dark chocolate bars.

We can only assume they are delicious.