Colombia

Colombia is a mid-sized cacao producer whose crop is grown almost entirely by smallholders and cooperatives, frequently within crop-substitution, peacebuilding and agroforestry programmes in former conflict areas. The country is recognised as a producer of fine-flavour cacao and the sector has expanded steadily, supported by national research and breeding institutions.

Production spans several distinct landscapes. Santander, in the eastern Andes around San Vicente de Chucurí, is the leading department, supplying roughly two-fifths of national output. Other major zones include Arauca on the Orinoquía floodplain, Huila and Tolima in the Magdalena valley, Antioquia's Bajo Cauca and Urabá, the humid Pacific-coast district of Tumaco in Nariño, and the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, where Arhuaco and other Indigenous communities farm the slopes.

Genetically, Colombian cacao is predominantly admixed, with widely planted clones such as CCN-51, ICS-60 and ICS-95 alongside national FEDECACAO selections. Pockets of Criollo-leaning and native material survive — notably a Porcelana-type cacao of the Sierra Nevada recognised as a Slow Food Presidium — and producer associations work with universities to identify and conserve regional genetics in clonal gardens.