Last November, Conservation Opportunity announced an official collaboration with Semila's Cacao farm, which is located near the Tiburón #3 Commons in the Florida Afuera neighborhood of Barceloneta.
This confirmation was made during the volunteer event that took place last Saturday morning, January 22, 2022 at the Semila farm.
Following the successful event, Conservation Opportunity founder Fabiola Torres Toledo and Semila farm owner Decenia Vega Rodríguez decided to make these collaborations a monthly event.
‘During the activity that took place last Saturday, we were mainly preparing the cocoa crop,’’ said Vega Rodriguez.
He also indicated that in the future the volunteers will have the opportunity to take part in the process of planting cocoa on the farm.
She also mentioned the effectiveness of having numerous volunteers working alongside her, for example, in the process of transplanting seedlings in the nurseries.
When asked why the Semila farm decided to collaborate with Conservation Opportunity, she explained, ‘’Conservation Opportunity is a vital piece for us. They help us impact more people, as there are a lot of people who don't have a lot of knowledge about the cocoa industry.”.
Vega is ‘extremely grateful’ for the support provided by Conservation Opportunity, as it makes Finca Semila's principles ‘proud’.
She indicates that ‘’planting a seed in each person’’ was also one of the main reasons why she wanted to found this ‘’unique'' agricultural project in Puerto Rico.
Through this collaboration, Finca Semila encourages its public to join its projects because they always have a need for volunteers in the field.
Finally, Torres Toledo informed that the next activity to be carried out in conjunction with the Semila farm will be announced.
Based on the results of the past event, it is hoped that even more volunteers can join to take part in the following projects.
