The Hindu Business Line : `Production, acreage of cocoa rising at snail's pace'

THE growth in area and production of cocoa in the country is at a snail's pace due to lack of enthusiasm among the farmers to cultivate the crop, which does not seem have a ready market.

Though the processing industry has an installed capacity of 30,000 tonnes a year, its current intake is around 12,000 to 15,000 tonnes. Indigenous production currently is between 8,000 - 9,000 tonnes a year from a total area of 27,000 hectares spread over Kerala, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu.

While in Kerala, the major producer, the area under the crop is stagnant at 10,000 hectares for over a decade now, there has been an increase in area in other States, albeit at a slow pace, Mr P. P. Balasubramanian, Director, Directorate of Cashew and Cocoa Development/DCCD (under the Union Ministry of Agriculture), told Business Line on Wednesday.

The current production in Kerala is around 6,000 tonnes, Karnataka 2,000 tonnes, Andhra Pradesh 1,200 tonnes and Tamil Nadu 200 tonnes, he said.

Though the first crop this year was good, the second crop has been hit by the incessant and protracted rains during the flowering time in the southern States. Therefore, a 25 to 30 per cent decline is likely in the second crop. The first season is during April - August/September and the second is from October to February. Almost 60 per cent of production comes from the first crop. Therefore, the fall in production would be in the remaining 40 per cent. The current unfavourable weather conditions would have a negative impact on the first crop next year, resulting in a likely drop in production, he said.

"Cocoa is not grown as pure plantations. It is planted as an inter-crop mainly in irrigated coconut gardens, he said. Farmers are inclined to grow other shade-loving crops such as spices and bananas, which have a ready market and remunerative prices, instead of cocoa," he said. In fact, he said, cocoa was fetching a good price of Rs 80-Rs 100 a kg for dried beans this year and there is also good demand of late. However, unlike other intercrops, it has not got a ready market.

There are 15 processing units in the country. The major buyers of the produce are Cadbury India Ltd and the Mangalore-based cooperative, Campco. They both buy around 6,000 tonnes a year, while the balance is used by the remaining units. Around 3,000 tonnes of cocoa is imported. Import and processing were said to be unprofitable, he said. In fact, the Centre had a special focus on promoting and developing cocoa cultivation in the country from 1970. However, its growth has not reached the desired levels because of the lacklustre approach of the State Governments, he pointed out.

The world production is estimated at 25-30 lakh tonnes of dried cocoa beans and the major producers are Ivory Coast and Ghana (in Africa) and Indonesia. India's share in the world production is negligible, he added.