Cocoa
Origins
Cacao (Theobroma cacao) is the name given to the tree which produces the cocoa bean, and was known to Meso-American peoples such as the Olmecs and Mayans around 1-2000BC.There is disagreement about which Mesoamerican culture first domesticated the cacao tree, by using fermented bean in a drink, but it is somewhere in Central America.
Aztec
By 1400, the Aztec empire took over a sizable part of Mesoamerica, but were unable to grow cacao themselves, so were forced to import it.[2] All of the areas that were conquered by the Aztecs that grew cacao beans were ordered to pay them as a tax, or as the Aztecs called it, a "tribute". The cacao bean became a form of currency. The Spanish conquistadors who conquered the Aztecs left records of the value of the cacao bean, noting for instance that 100 beans could purchase a canoe filled with fresh water or a turkey hen
This food that started life as a bitter medicinal plant become to the Aztecs the most desirable food - 'of the gods'. It was a source of wisdom and energy, an aphrodisiac and a soothing balsam in their culture. It went round the world the other way from most of the other food crops. From the Andes, it is now mainly grown in West Africa.
Who and what is responsible for this movement?
The Spanish Capuchin monks - whose name and garb is used to describe our popular coffee drink ('Capuchino por favor') managed to grow cacao in Equador (More). They took it to Trinidad where they set up missions and subjugated local American Indians (a kind of semi-slavery) to grow it (more). “Tensions between priests and Amerindians led to the Arena Massacre of 1699, when the Amerindians murdered the priests. After being hunted by the Spanish, the survivors are reported to have committed suicide by jumping off cliffs into the sea.
”The French also took it to the Caribbean. (more) British cocao plantations there used slave labour to grow it. (More - Chap 3, p10, As with many of these food crops, the best tasting come from the places of origin - in this case Venuzuela.
West Africa
The bulk producing varieties are mainly produced in West Africa now, responsible for about 40% of the world's production. It is grown here - contrary to most other food crop movement, it is almost entirely on smallholdings where the whole family works together.So unlike all the other food crops, this has gone from a plantation crop in the Caribbean to a family crop in W. Africa. This would have been helped by British colonial office at the time which preferred small farms to plantations that were considered an 'alienation of th eland'. See Palm Oil for more about the attitude of British colonial government in W Africa.
Present Situation
With chocolate consumption predicted to rise, as it is associated with increased GDP in many countries, and consumers are going for healthier darker chocolate, there is a predicted shortfall of a million tonnes by 2020. Chocaholics beware! The $120bn global confectionery industry relies on ageing trees and small farms in west Africa, which barely have money to invest and are under threat from other crops..
To add to the miseries, Cacao Swollen Shoot Virus carried by mealy bugs was first identified by an old Professor of mine at Wye College, Peter Posnette, He is credited with saving the cocoa crop in West Africa. He went back to Trinidad and crossed old varieties from the Amazon to breed resistance into the African trees. Nevertheless 200 million tress have been lost to the virus making Ghana' s eradication programme very expensive. Ways to combat plant viruses. One way recommended to control the virus is is to plant a cordon of CSSV-resistant crop to provide a physical barrier to the mealy bug vectors. But this is viewed as a waste of land by farmers in Ghana who are set on growing only the valuable cacao plant, so they are resistant to the idea.
Global AgInvesting says:
" Even at current prices, West African small farmers, which account for 70% of world cacao production are living in destitute poverty. These farmers have extremely low average productivity (due to old and aging cacao trees, low planting densities, and little to no fertilizer application) and a low farmgate price after a margin of 30-50% is taken by government-run industry associations and middlemen. This poverty is a driving cause for many related problems, including poor working conditions, child labor and trafficking, illiteracy and malnutrition. As such, it is no surprise that younger generations are leaving cacao farming all together and moving to urban areas while remaining farmers are planting their lands with other, more profitable crops such as palm oil. In addition, the average cacao crop age has reached a point where replanting is necessary to guarantee yields - and farmers are not replanting. When supply isn’t growing in countries where 70% of cacao is produced, you have a problem.
Pacific Agri Capital is capitalizing on this unique opportunity by developing greenfield cacao plantations in both Colombia and Peru. These two countries offer ideal cacao growing conditions with the perfect levels of rainfall, humidity and sunshine. In addition, both countries allow foreign investors to acquire freehold titled land and have superior infrastructure compared to peer cacao growing countries. In Peru, Pacific Agri Capital was the lead investor in a 3,000 hectare cacao plantation that should, at maturity, generate more than US$7,000 in revenue per hectare and have an operating margin of between 50-60%. The plantation will provide more than 700 stable, full-time, and relatively well-paying jobs in poor rural region of Peru. In Colombia, we are developing a 1,500 hectare plantation for the production of single-origin cacao for export. For us, this is just the start, a 1 million tonne deficit in cacao by 2020 will need to be filled by over 400,000 hectares of high-yielding, well-managed cacao fields or 2 million hectares of cacao grown by small farmers. As cacao plantation investors, we have a long way to go."
So back to plantations where cacao was first cultivated. Funny old world..
To come..
Role of the Quakers chocolate, their factories and attitude. Frys, Cadburys. Rowntrees. Mid 1800s.
Rust problems..latterly - Posnette, Prof from Wye died recently,