Latitude Trade Co. (LTC), founded in 2016, is a vertically integrated certified B Corp in Uganda sourcing from more than 4,664 certified organic smallholder producers, 2,266 (49%) of whom are women and 3,228 (69%) of whom are individuals under 35 years of age.

LTC produces both award-winning specialty cacao and bean to bar chocolate in Uganda, employing more than 50 organized rural collection points for producers to sell fresh cacao weekly into the network. The producers receive a premium cash price at the point-of-sale. Semuliki Forest cacao is sourced from the region around Bundibugyo in Western Uganda. LTC offers producers training on farm productivity, ecological practices, cacao quality, and finance, as well as support in opening bank accounts and in building credit. LTC’s centralized fermentation facility and warehouse sits in the village of Kasese, where beans dry in the sun on raised racks for six to seven days and are blended before export to create consistent lots with luscious flavor notes of cinnamon, dark chocolate, and fig.

TERROIR

In western Uganda, 20 km from the border of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, lies Bundibugyo, a town and region known for cocoa production. The community sits at 800 meters, nestled into the foothills of the Rwenzori mountain range, which runs between Uganda, Rwanda, and the D.R.C. It’s a beautiful place, rain clouds moving down from the mountaintop throughout the day and the jungle teeming with life. Recognizing the quality of Ugandan cacao and the opportunity for a specialty market to be established, Latitude Trade Co. established a transparent buying network and a centralized fermentation and drying program in 2017. Now they are producing one of the 50 highest quality beans in the world while also providing greater economic opportunities to cacao producers. Cacao is frequently intercropped with banana, plantain, palm and coffee.