Hundreds of cocoa farmers across Bougainville, families and international chocolatiers have all begun arriving in Buka for this year’s Bougainville Chocolate Festival - expected to be the biggest one yet.
President Chief Dr John Momis will officially launch the two day Festival of activities and competitions at Hutjena Oval in Provincial capital Buka this Friday.
This year’s festival activities include competitions for farmers, such as the Big Bean Competition and Big Pod Competition.
The highlight Chocolate competition has generated record levels of interest with farmers submitting their cocoa beans from as far as remote Nissan Island and Torokina in South Bougainville.
Festival co-chair says this year has seen a record number of cocoa farmers participating and also a growing level of interest from chocolate makers around the world.
While the festival will have a special focus on educating farmers to improve cocoa production quality with films, seminars and displays, it will also be fun for children and families with games, entertainment activities and chocolate tasting –with the assessment made by international judges.
The Bougainville Chocolate Festival is an initiative of the Autonomous Bougainville Government with the support of the governments of Papua New Guinea, Australia and New Zealand.