Ecuador

Ecuador is one of the largest cacao producers in the world and by far the dominant supplier of fine- or flavour-grade beans. Cacao has been a pillar of the national economy since the 19th-century 'pepa de oro' boom, when riverside towns such as Vinces shipped 'Arriba' cacao down to Guayaquil for export. Output has risen sharply in recent years, with the crop now a leading export earner.

Production is concentrated in the western coastal lowlands — Los Ríos, Guayas, Manabí, El Oro and Esmeraldas account for the large majority of the harvest — with a smaller but distinctive Amazonian sector in Napo, Sucumbíos and other eastern provinces, often grown by Kichwa families within traditional 'chakra' agroforestry.

Ecuador's signature is the native Nacional type, valued for a delicate floral 'Arriba' aroma and placed in its own genetic cluster in the modern taxonomy (Motamayor et al. 2008; Loor Solórzano et al. 2012). However, the bulk of today's crop is the high-yielding hybrid clone CCN-51, itself a documented admixture, and surveys estimate that well under 10 percent of the national crop is heirloom Nacional. Conservation of pure Nacional germplasm and quality-differentiated supply chains are ongoing priorities.