It is found in the stories of the Spanish missions going with the colonization of the Amazon during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries many remarks on the abundance and quality of cocoa extracted from forests bordering the Huallaga river. Traditionally cocoa is extracted by Amazonian peoples from sylvan cocoa trees that abound in the region.
Today in the District of Shapaja, elders attest of the existence and the harvest of cocoa pods in the Mishiyacu ravine (source of sugared water) for over 70 years. Historically Cocoa from Mishkiyacu has a reputation of being the best that is find in the valley and one can imagine that the few trees that are still growing in a wild state had been once patiently and gradually domesticated.
This cocoa tree Mishkiyacu strain was reproduced by planting there twenties years ago to form the old plantations of Wasi manta which were rehabilitated. These were themselves the base for new plantings conducted since 2012. The seeds of two other ancient native cocoa plantations with the same strain were also used to implement the new 8,500 cacao trees native planting.
