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Origins of Cocoa and Its Spread around the World

Cocoa is produced in countries within 10ºN and 10ºS of the equator where the climate is appropriate for growing cocoa trees. The largest producing countries are Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana and Indonesia.

The Upper Amazon Region

This region’s rich tropical rainforests are a primary centre of diversity and it is possible the cocoa tree grew here 10,000 to 15,000 years ago.

The upper Orinoco region of north east Colombia and North West Venezuela

Evidence of a large cacao gene pool in the upper Orinoco suggests that this could be where wild cacao originated. The transfer of cacao to Mexico would also be short and easy from here.

Andean Foothills of North West Colombia

It is postulated that cacao originated in the Andean foothills because of the large number of species found there and the comparative ease of dispersal to Mexico.

Central America, from Southern Mexico to Guatemala

Other studies give the Lacandon forest of Chiapas in Mexico and the Usumacinta river area on the borders of Mexico and Guatemala as the source of cacao.

Whether by natural dispersal or carriage, cacao spread through northern South America and Central America, eventually splitting into two sub-species, criollo cacao in Central America and forastero cacao in South America.

The Spread of Cacao Around the World

cocoa

The genus Theobroma originated millions of years ago in South America, to the east of the Andes. Theobroma has been divided into twenty-two species of which T. cacao is the most widely known.

It is the Mayawho have provided tangible evidence of cacao as a domesticated crop. Archaeological evidence in Costa Rica indicates that cacao was drunk by Maya traders as early as 400 BC.

The Aztecculture, dominant in Mesoamerica from the fourteenth century to the Conquest, placed much emphasis on the sanctity of cacao.

Map 3.1: Cacao producing areas of the World (after Dand, R.J.; 1999)

The first outsider to drink chocolate was Christopher Columbus, who reached Nicaragua in 1502 searching for a sea route to the spices of the East. But it was Hernan Cortés, leader of an expedition in 1519 to the Aztec empire, who returned to Spain in 1528 bearing the Aztec recipe for xocoatl (chocolate drink) with him.

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The drink was initially received unenthusiastically and it was not until sugar was added that it became a populardrink in theSpanish courts.

Caribbean and South America

There were attempts to satisfy Spanish domestic demand by planting cacao in Spanish territories like the Dominican Republic, Trinidad and Haiti but these initially came to nothing.

More successful were the Spanish Capuchin friars who grew criollo cacao in Ecuador in about 1635. The rush by European, mercantile nations to claim land to cultivate cacao began in earnest in the late seventeenth century.

France introduced cacao to Martinique and St Lucia (1660), the Dominican Republic (1665), Brazil (1677), Guianas (1684) and Grenada (1714); England had cacao growing in Jamaica by 1670; and, prior to this the Dutch had taken over plantationsin Curaçao when they seized the island in 1620.

Africa and Nigeria

Later the explosion in demand brought about by chocolate’s affordability required yet more cacao to be cultivated. Amelonado cacao from Brazil was planted in Principe in 1822, Sao Tomé in 1830 and Fernando Po in 1854, then in Nigeria in 1874 and Ghana in 1879.

There was already a small plantation in Bonny, eastern Nigeria established by Chief Iboningi in 1847, as well as other plantations run by the Coker family established by the Christian missions.

The seeds planted in Ghana were brought from Fernando Po by Tetteh Quarshie or his apprentice Adjah, after previous attempts by the Dutch (1815) and the Swiss (1843) to introduce cocoa in Ghana had failed. In Cameroon, cocoa was introduced during the colonial period of1925 to 1939.

Worldwide Distribution of Smallholder – Producers of Cocoa

Proportion of cocoa worldwide produced by smallholders is almost 90% of total production. This comes from smallholdings of under 5 hectares in size.

Smallholders involved in cocoa, International Cocoa Organization (ICCO) global estimates is contained in the table below.

Smallholding 3 hectares (smallholding is usually defined as a farm holding of less than 10 hectares, range 2ha to 5ha) million smallholders (could be up to 3 million but this would then include those for whom cocoa is not the main activity)

Smallholder yields 350kg/hectare (range from 200kg in Ecuador to 1,500kg for smallholders in Indonesia – Sulawesi. Ghana 300kg, Cote d’Ivoire 450kg)

Country / RegionTotal no of workers (million)
World14.00
Africa10.50
Cameroon1.60
Côte d’Ivoire3.60
Ghana3.20
Nigeria1.20
Sierra Leone0.38
Togo0.40
Others0.12
Americas1.39
Brazil0.21
Colombia0.28
Dominican Republic0.20
Ecuador0.28
Venezuela0.18
Others0.25
Asia and Oceania2.11
Indonesia1.60
Malaysia0.31
Papua New Guinea0.10
Others0.10
Source: ICCO, December 1999

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Benadine Nonye is an agricultural consultant and a writer with several years of professional experience in the agriculture industry. - National Diploma in Agricultural Technology - Bachelor's Degree in Agricultural Science - Master's Degree in Science Education - PhD Student in Agricultural Economics and Environmental Policy... Visit My Websites On: 1. Agric4Profits.com - Your Comprehensive Practical Agricultural Knowledge and Farmer’s Guide Website! 2. WealthinWastes.com - For Effective Environmental Management through Proper Waste Management and Recycling Practices! Join Me On: Twitter: @benadinenonye - Instagram: benadinenonye - LinkedIn: benadinenonye - YouTube: Agric4Profits TV - Pinterest: BenadineNonye4u - Facebook: BenadineNonye

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