PhilChoco, Taiwan university seal MOU for tech transfer to cocoa farmers in Central Visayas

CEBU CITY —Philchoco brings Taiwanese food technology to Cebu and Central Visayas cacao farmers through a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Cheng Shiu University of Kaohsiung, Taiwan signed on June 26 at the Golden Prince Hotel & Suites, Cebu City calling the event “Bean-to-bar convergence.” 

The event brought together government, academe, and the private sector to showcase bean-to-bar innovation using Philippine cacao. “Cacao is gold,” said Philchoco general manager, Aaron Que and explained that Philchoco is a bean-to-bar chocolate maker.

“What that means is we source cacao beans from local farmers from different parts of the Philippines, and we turn it into a bar, almost like a gold bar — that’s what they say, because cacao is gold,” he added.

The bar is just one shape. It can be turned into different things that the chefs in restaurants need. The convergence is the result of a benchmarking trip to Taiwan in February 2026 with Cheng Shiu University, bared Rey Calooy, Philchoco president.

Calooy said that Philchoco delegation spent almost a week in Taiwan visiting laboratories and seeing actual product development. The outcome: new products using PhilChoco’s own cacao, including coffee cookies and other innovations.

“We decided to partner with University of Taiwan, which products using our own raw materials, like PhilChoco, our chocolates, so now the result, we have an array of new products based on that convergence,” Calooy said.

The goal is to replicate Taiwan’s technology-driven agriculture in the Philippines. “For them, agriculture is based on technology. Our raw materials are limited, but their agriculture is technology-based,” he said.

The goal of the MOU between PhilChoco and Cheng Shiu University is to improve Philippine cacao quality, support local farmers, and scale up with the technology learned in Taiwan to trickle down to the farming community in Cebu and in Central Visayas.

“The long-term aim is to tie products to One Town, One Product (OTOP) and do more innovative research use local raw cacao materials. This is a beautiful collaboration bringing Taiwan’s technology to Philippine cacao, so farmers can create more innovative, higher-value products from “cacao is gold,” Calooy added.

PhilChoco is a private company and non-government organization, but it is tapping support from state agencies.  Philchoco has received a grant from the Department of Science and Technology (DOST)-Region 7, said Philchoco GM Aaron Que adding that Department of Agriculture (DA) and the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) and other programs have also reached out to the company for some initiatives for different cocoa stakeholders.

The convergence event also included regional directors from different government agencies, Taiwanese farmers, and chefs teaching new methods. The Taiwanese group did a tech transfer workshop and presented outputs from the past few days as part of the formal showcase. (Photos: MBCNewman & Philchoco)