Cocoa |
| Posted by ASCE (admin) on Wednesday, 9th January, 2008 at 4:58 AM |
Introduction
Cocoa is one of the Nigeria's export crops produced mainly in the southern part of the country. The crop was brought from Brazil into Nigeria during the slave trade era. It can be found in all the states in the southwestern part of the country. The crop is also grown in Cross River, Abia, Edo, Kwara and Taraba States in Nigeria.
Cocoa is also grown in Ghana, Cameroun, Ivory Coast, Garbon and Sao Tome and Principe in West and Central Africa. Nigeria, Ghana and Ivory Coast alone produce close to 70% of the world output annually with Ivory Coast alone producing over 50%.
Cocoa is a seasonal crop, which is harvested twice in a year. The heavy crop comes out around September February while Light crop comes out from April to July.
Production
From Quarterly Bulletin of Cocoa Statistics, Vol. XXXI, Number 5, cocoa year 2004/05 total world production of cocoa beans stood at 3.328 million MT. Of this, Africa accounted for 2.334 or 70%, Americas 0.447 million MT, Asia and Oceania 0.546 million MT.
Uses
Cocoa is used for the production of liquor, cake, butter, chocolate, beverages, etc. The pod is also used for the production of soda ash.
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