open cacao

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🟤 Project Title

Open Cacao – A Human Map of Vietnamese Cacao

Inspiration

Vietnamese cacao has been discussed mostly through yield, price, and export value. But during my journey building climate-related projects (including a previous NASA Space Apps challenge), I realized something deeper:

When cacao fails, what disappears is not only income — but memory, dignity, and the decision to stay with the land.

Open Cacao was born from a simple question: What stories are lost when cacao is lost? 🟤

What it does

Open Cacao is a community-driven digital map that helps people:

Find cacao farms near them in Vietnam

Learn about cacao through real human stories, not production metrics

Understand the human value of cacao, especially through stories of failed or lost seasons

Each farm is represented not as a business listing, but as a living archive of experience, resilience, and care.

How we built it

Open Cacao focuses on simplicity and trust:

Map-based discovery Users can explore cacao farms around them using a quiet, non-competitive map.

Story-first farm profiles Each participating farm shares:

How long cacao has been grown there

One cacao season that didn’t go well

Why they chose to continue growing cacao

Gentle farm registration Farms can join voluntarily, sharing only what they are comfortable with:

Approximate location

Text, voice, or photo stories

Optional anonymity

There are no rankings, no selling, and no performance metrics.

Challenges we ran into

Accomplishments that we're proud of

What we learned

What's next for open cacao

Visit more cacao farms and document lost seasons

Expand the map to additional regions

Add voice storytelling for low-literacy contributors

Build partnerships with community groups and cooperatives

The future of Open Cacao grows slowly and together.

Built With

• react