Over 3 million tonnes of Cocoa beans are consumed worldwide annually. At least three quarters of the world’s cocoa production comes from West Africa with major exports of the cocoa beans coming from Cote d’Ivoire and Ghana.
Cote d’Ivoire and Ghana farm half of the world’s cocoa; however other West African countries such as Cameroon, Nigeria, Togo, Sao Tome and Principe are also producing cocoa for export as well.
With Cote d’Ivoire producing 33 percent of the world’s cocoa, the government recently expressed the interest of becoming the world’s leading cocoa bean grinder as well. The government wants to increase local processing of cocoa from less than a third to a half of the cocoa beans produced in the country. There by add value to the raw material and consequently creating more employment opportunities in the country.
Ghana is working towards increasing the level of cocoa production to 750,000 metric tonnes in the next 10 years. The government is supplying farmers with 60 million hybrid seedlings for free to replace the aging cocoa trees that can no longer bear good fruits (most of the trees are estimated to be between 30 years old and more). The new seedling is expected to start producing in two years.
Liberia is looking to invest in the cocoa industry with their main economy drivers, rubber and iron ore suffering price decline according to the Daily Observer.
The government of Cameroon intends to scale up cocoa production in the country from 200,000 tonnes to 600,000 tonnes by 2020 after stagnating for a period of five years, reports the Cameroon Tribune.
Over 50 million farmers worldwide make a living from growing of Cocoa; with the plant being mainly grown by small scale farmers on 2 to 5 hectares of land. There are very few major planters using over 40 hectares of land.
Cocoa which originally means ‘food for the gods’ is a labour intensive crop to grow; it requires a lot of tendering and close attention. The tree produces throughout the year but it is very sensitive to climate change.
Cocoa prices are set to increase in 2016 with new markets coming into play such as China and Eastern Europe.
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