©Photo Ranco Quemado Estate
Trinidad was once a major producer of cocoa; our cocoa was used to enhance the taste and quality of cocoa produced in other areas of the World - it appears that this has not changed. However, it remains a fact that we don't produce as much cocoa as we used to but the demand for Trinidad produced cocoa has not decreased.
To think that Caribbean cocoa was purchased by UK importers at US$3.00 per kilogram that was then refined into chocolate and then resold to the Caribbean at $1,500.00 per kilogram sounds outrageous but then again that is the way the market operates.
It appears that if we can produce quality downstream products from our very flavor-full cocoa then we may be able to really reap the reward or our very special cocoa produced at home. There was a time when Trinidad was the third largest producer of cocoa behind Venezuela and Ecuador. This was before Ghana began large scale cocoa production. We have the ability but do we have the will to produce more?
There is hope for this industry and apparently the demand for Trinidad's tasty cocoa will be the driving force that could encourage farmers to invest more and continually improve in this area of agricultural production. The UWI (University of the West Indies) continues to do research that will provide better harvests and quality cocoa. According to the quoted article above: "UWI’s Cocoa Research Unit moved, years ago, to establish a cocoa gene bank to make available to leading producers of cocoa in Africa, Central and South America, Asia and the Pacific more productive strains of cocoa."
This is good news and shows that with some effort and innovation that we can provide other sources of income for continued prosperity in Trinidad and Tobago and not simply rely on oil and gas revenues - every foreign dollar earned counts.
In the end the country benefits from these sales and the farmers could benefit if the price for our cocoa could be renegotiated based on the quality of the product rather than based on the prices set by demand and supply economics. The rebirth of this cocoa industry is good news for everyone concerned - way to go!
Information source:
Photo Source:
http://ranchoquemadoestate.com/service/cocoa-production/
Here is an additional article that adds to the conversation. Plese follow the link below to read the entire article
The return of King Cocoa in Trinidad & Tobago | CribbeanBeat
Here is an additional article that adds to the conversation. Plese follow the link below to read the entire article
The return of King Cocoa in Trinidad & Tobago | CribbeanBeat