Brief History

The Montserrat Cocoa Farmers’ Cooperative Society Ltd (MCFCSL) is a totally farmer-owned-and-run co-operative operating in the Montserrat Hills of the Central Range of Trinidad & Tobago, a region famous for Trinitario Fine Flavour Cocoa. It was established with the main aim of improving the livelihood of the cocoa farming community of Montserrat Hills It represents a bottom-up developmental model that serves as a beacon for other such communities, and hopefully, to the revitalization of the cocoa industry in Trinidad and Tobago. In 2010, five cocoa farmers in the Gran Couva community, in response to the abandonment of cocoa farms and the transfer of cocoa lands to other uses, along with high levels of unemployment in the community, pooled their resources, formed an association and encouraged other farmers to join. With the assistance of the Cooperative Division of the Ministry of Labour, Small and Micro Enterprises it was registered to operate as a Cooperative in 2010 and the MCFCSL was born. At present, the Cooperative has a membership of 56 farmers including 11 women.