Group MotMot / Cacao Library

Field knowledge.
Open to the world.

A growing digital shelf of technical publications created through the work of Conservación & Desarrollo, MotMot’s lifelong nonprofit partner, with an English-first translated reading companion for international readers.

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Atlas del Cacao en Ecuador cover
Poda de Árboles Jóvenes cover
Escuelas de Campo para Agricultores cover
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Knowledge should travel

The value of technical work grows when producers, researchers, buyers, educators, and future generations can discover it, understand its context, and continue learning from it.

The collection

Open knowledge.
Rooted in the field.

Select a publication to review its purpose, contents, and context before opening the document. Every resource is presented in its original language and credited to the team behind the work.

Knowledge partner

Created through decades of field work.

These publications were created and are owned by Fundación Conservación & Desarrollo, MotMot’s lifelong nonprofit partner, independently or with the organizations credited in each work.

Origin mapping / Cacao Library

Atlas of Cacao in Ecuador

Original title: Atlas del Cacao en Ecuador

International reading: open the reader for an English translation or choose from 39 additional languages.

A geographic record of Ecuadorian Nacional cacao, mapped from province to parish.

This extensive cartographic atlas documents the geographic presence of Ecuadorian Nacional fine-aroma cacao. It organizes the country by Coast, Highlands, and Amazon regions, then moves from provinces and cantons down to individual parishes.

The maps were assembled from georeferenced field information gathered during the national Minga del Cacao pruning program. Many entries identify producer locations, participating producer totals, hectares pruned, administrative boundaries, and the stages of field intervention. Together, they provide an unusually detailed historical view of where Nacional cacao was cultivated and where technical support was delivered.

Why this resource matters

It connects the phrase “Ecuadorian origin” to specific landscapes and producer territories, offering researchers, planners, buyers, and development organizations a concrete geographic reference.

Context note: Historical reference: the publication reports information gathered through the 2012-2016 Minga del Cacao program, including 55,259 mapped farms and program figures current at the time of publication.

Topics inside

  • Nacional fine-aroma cacao
  • Geographic distribution
  • Producer mapping
  • Minga del Cacao
  • Regional planning

Useful for

  • Researchers
  • Origin buyers
  • Development organizations
  • Public-sector planners
Publication credits

Conservación & Desarrollo, Fundación Maquita and Fundación Alianza Ceide
Concept: José Valdivieso Sr. (José Valdivieso S.); production: José Valdivieso Sr. and Alfredo Dueñas; editing: Leonor Zambrano; maps: the C&D and Maquita geographic information systems teams; design and layout: Yelina Pino Rodríguez

Cacao cultivation / Cacao Library

Pruning Young Cacao Trees

Original title: Poda de Árboles Jóvenes

International reading: open the reader for an English translation or choose from 39 additional languages.

A visual field guide to shaping, managing, and protecting young cacao trees.

This illustrated technical guide explains how pruning helps establish tree structure, control height, improve light and air movement, reduce disease pressure, and make future field work safer and more efficient.

Its recommendations distinguish among stages of growth, sexual and asexual propagation, and cacao genotypes. Photographs and diagrams show how pruning decisions change for Nacional cacao, grafted plants, rooted cuttings, and somatic-embryogenesis material. The final section covers correct cuts, wound protection, irrigation, fertilization, shoot removal, shade, and other post-pruning care.

Why this resource matters

Pruning is presented as a long-term production decision rather than a one-time cut, linking tree architecture with health, labor efficiency, and yield potential.

Topics inside

  • Tree architecture
  • Pruning intensity
  • Cacao genotypes
  • Shade management
  • Post-pruning care

Useful for

  • Cacao producers
  • Field technicians
  • Agronomists
  • Training facilitators
Publication credits

Conservación & Desarrollo and Fundación Maquita
Authors: James Quiroz and Celso Averos; production leadership: José Valdivieso Sr. (José Valdivieso S.); technical review: Alfredo Dueñas Dávalos; editing and photography: Leonor Zambrano; support: Minga del Cacao Nacional technical team

Food safety / Cacao Library

Good Manufacturing Practices Manual

Original title: Manual de Buenas Prácticas de Manufactura

International reading: open the reader for an English translation or choose from 39 additional languages.

A practical foundation for hygiene, sanitation, pest control, and safe food operations.

This practical manufacturing manual translates core food-safety responsibilities into accessible procedures for production teams. Its seven chapters cover pest and bird control, insects and rodents, sanitation, personal hygiene, prevention of cross-contamination, detection of foreign materials, operational controls, and machinery maintenance.

The publication places these practices in the context of Good Manufacturing Practices, FDA expectations, and HACCP-based preventive control. Illustrated examples focus on everyday behaviors and facility conditions that can either protect food or introduce contamination.

Why this resource matters

The manual shows that food safety is built through repeatable daily controls, not only through certificates or final-product testing.

Topics inside

  • GMP
  • HACCP foundations
  • Sanitation
  • Personal hygiene
  • Cross-contamination
  • Pest control

Useful for

  • Food processors
  • Production teams
  • Quality managers
  • Training programs
Publication credits

Fundación Conservación & Desarrollo
Author: Antonio Camacho Arteta; production: Alfredo Dueñas D. and José Valdivieso S. (José Valdivieso Sr.); text review: Leonor Zambrano

Field education / Cacao Library

Sustainable Farmer Field Schools for Cacao Producers

Original title: Manual de Escuelas de Campo Sostenibles para Productores de Cacao

International reading: open the reader for an English translation or choose from 39 additional languages.

A complete participatory-learning curriculum for cacao production and rural organizations.

This substantial manual explains how to organize and facilitate Sustainable Farmer Field Schools using a learn-by-doing model. It covers group formation, participatory diagnosis, field observation, demonstration sites, facilitator responsibilities, evaluation, and the practical operation of an ECAS program.

The curriculum then follows the cacao production cycle through plant-material selection, nurseries, grafting, crop establishment, soils, agroforestry shade, nutrition, integrated pest and disease management, pruning, conservation, harvest, fermentation, drying, storage, tasting, and artisanal cacao paste. Later units address leadership, rural organization, citizen rights, associative administration, and basic accounting.

Why this resource matters

It treats technical knowledge, experimentation, organization, and economic capacity as connected parts of sustainable cacao production.

Context note: Developed for field schools in Santo Domingo de los Tsáchilas with support from the provincial government and financing from the European Union.

Topics inside

  • Participatory education
  • Cacao agronomy
  • Nurseries and grafting
  • Harvest and post-harvest
  • Producer organizations

Useful for

  • Field-school facilitators
  • Producer organizations
  • Extension teams
  • Cacao educators
Publication credits

Fundación Conservación & Desarrollo
C&D technical team; review and approval: Alfredo Dueñas, José Valdivieso Sr. (José Valdivieso S.) and Patricio Yucta

Coffee agronomy / Cacao Library

My Healthy Coffee Plant

Original title: Mi Planta Saludable de Café

International reading: open the reader for an English translation or choose from 39 additional languages.

A month-by-month guide to nursery establishment and the first year of a healthy coffee plant.

This field calendar accompanies a coffee plant from direct sowing in a nursery bag through transplanting and its first year in the field. It was developed from lessons learned in Farmer Field Schools supporting Arabica coffee production in Manabí.

Monthly sections cover seed selection, substrate preparation, germination, nutrition, moisture, disease prevention, temporary shade, transplanting, weed management, and safe handling of agricultural inputs. Its central recommendation is direct sowing into the nursery bag to reduce twisted roots and early plant mortality.

Why this resource matters

Although this is the library’s coffee resource, it preserves transferable field-school knowledge about nursery discipline, plant establishment, farmer training, and resilient rural production.

Topics inside

  • Coffee nurseries
  • Direct sowing
  • Monthly field calendar
  • Plant nutrition
  • Disease prevention

Useful for

  • Coffee producers
  • Nursery managers
  • Field technicians
  • Agricultural educators
Publication credits

Conservación & Desarrollo and MCCH
Authors: César Cañarte, David Sánchez, Paulo Tapia and Ricardo Zapata; production leadership: José Valdivieso Sr. (José Valdivieso S.); technical editing: William Ulloa; technical review: Marco Jaramillo, Alfredo Dueñas and Celso Averos; general editing: Leonor Zambrano

Cacao Library / Reader

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