Fire Causes $1 Million in Damages to Cacao Farm

One million dollars in damages were caused by a raging farm fire on fifty acres of cacao plantation in the south. The fire keeps burning tonight, stretching beyond the villages of Columbia and San Miguel in the Toledo District.  The cacao plantation is owned by Serendipity Farm and one of the owners, Lawrence Chavarria says that over fifteen thousand cacao trees were damaged in the inferno. The fire, he says, was caused by a farmer practicing the slash and burn method. 

Lawrence Chavarria, Owner, Serendipity Farm

“Approximately fifty acres located right outside of Mafredi, one of the first parcels of land in the San Antonio Village. It consists of over fifteen thousand cacao trees and which are already starting to produce. Last week we have harvested over three thousand pounds of wet cacao. We have another four thousand pounds on the farm that was left to harvest and it has been very devastating with this farm fire coming in from behind the Colombia Village from supposedly one of the slash and burn farmers that does their milpa system. At the moment there are still some fires on the farm and we are trying to control that.”

Reporter

“What is the cost of a seedling?”

Lawrence Chavarria

Lawrence Chavarria

“One seedling I would say starts off at five dollars.”

Reporter

“And you have these trees in the ground for how many years now.

Lawrence Chavarria

“From 2016 we started off.”

Reporter

“So four years you’ve been taking care of your farm, what is the estimated value of your farm right now?”

Lawrence Chavarria

“We are looking at least one million dollars based on the damages here at the moment.”

Reporter

“Can you tell us how many trees you have on this farm more or less?”

Lawrence Chavarria

“Approximately fourteen thousand to fifteen thousand trees.”