Phase 1: Introduction to Cacao Farming - Part 1

Here are my notes on some of the things I have learned so far about cacao farming and the cocoa industry based on my time with the CocoaPhil team, farmers, and agriculturalists (part 1):

The Cocoa Value Chain / The Cocoa Supply Chain

Small Holder Farmer

• Nursery - Seedings

·         Plantation and Maintenance

·         Harvest

·         Post Harvest

o   Fermentation

o   Drying

Trader

Grinder

Industry

• Confectionary Industry
• Food Industry
• Industrial, Artisanal, Pharma & Tobacco consumers

Retailer

Consumer

Cacao Farming

• Small holder farms are family operated – 1 to 3 hectares.
• Seedlings require 80-90% shade. Medium sized trees only require 50% shade.
• Coconut trees provide permanent shade cover. Banana trees provide temporary shade cover.
• Cacao trees are best interplanted alongside coconut trees and banana trees.
• Seedlings take 18-24 months to flower. It takes about 6 months for flowers to reach pod maturity.
• Primary pollinator is the mitges – little moths.
• Pollination times are 5am – 7am and 7pm – 8pm.
• Smoking on the farm can affect the mitges and hinder pollination.
• Pods should be harvested at 75-80% ripeness. Pods that are too ripe are likely to have beans that are germinated.
• 18-25 pods = 1 kilogram of wet beans
• 3 kg of wet beans = 1 kg of dry beans
• 50 kg needed to ferment
• 1 metric ton = 1,000 kilograms
• 1 cacao tree produces 2 kg of dry beans per year
• Best soil conditions is loam soil – porous
• Best temperature is 18 degrees Celsius
• Best pH is 4.5 – 6.5
• 1 hectare = 1,100 cacao trees open with 3 meters apart (good only if 18 degrees Celsius and no summer – rainy season year round. otherwise, needs shade cover)
• 1 hectare = 750 cacao trees interplanted with other crops (coconut & banana)
• 1 hectare of 750 cacao trees will produce (2 kg/yr) 1,500 kg of dry beans per year
• 1 hectare = 50,000 pesos in expenses (25,000 pesos for seedlings, 25,000 pesos for labor)
• Labor can include fertilizing, clearing, holing, staking, weeding, etc.
• CocoaPhil membership is 1,000 pesos per year.
• Farmers also pay land tax and business license annually.