Chocolate-coated prosperity

When Cadbury India (now Mondelez India Foods Ltd) representatives approached Sabapathy, a coconut farmer at Sethumadai village, 16 km from Pollachi in Tamil Nadu, with some cocoa seedling to be raised as an intercrop in his coconut grove, Sabapathy says he was not interested at all.

“They did not give up and I ultimately gave in,” he says, recalling the incident from 13 years ago.

“Mine was the third field brought under the Cocoa Sustainability Programme in this belt. In the initial years, I did not do much other than water the plants. Representatives from the company visited the farm at regular intervals to assess the health of the crop.

“When the crop was in its fifth year, it started bearing fruits. The company promptly helped me harvest the fruits, and trained me in processing and drying the nut. The dried bean fetched ₹45 per kg. This was in 2004-05.”

“This got me started. I’ve planted around 1,600 cocoa seedlings in my eight-acre coconut farm, comprising 650-odd trees.

Hailing from an agricultural family and with no formal education, Sabapathy says he broke away from his father’s practice of cultivating only short-duration crops such as groundnut, chilli and cotton, and turned his holding into a coconut farm.

The paucity of farm hands has forced many farmers in the Pollachi belt to look for less labour-intensive crops.

From Sabapathy’s farm, we drove over rugged muddy roads to reach Nandagopal’s farm at Aalankadavu village, about 13 km from Pollachi.

A Business Management graduate, this farmer is a relatively late entrant to cocoa cultivation. “I visited horticulture expos in Coimbatore and Chennai, and some of the coconut gardens in the vicinity, before venturing into cocoa cultivation.”

Moving around his farm with a cutter and harvesting the slightly yellow, giant-sized guava-like cocoa fruit, he says proudly, “This is the fifth year.”

His farm, which is just a hop away from the Coimbatore-Pollachi main road, has over 700 coconut trees, 1,500-plus cocoa trees, 350 nutmeg plants, a jackfruit tree and flowering plants.

Farmers say intercropping cocoa with coconut and areca nut had helped double their income. “From ₹45 a kg in 2004, the bean today is quoting at ₹210 a kg,” says Sabapathy

Selvakumar, though, claims to have taken the lead in cocoa plantation in Pollachi region. A visit to Elluru in Andhra Pradesh convinced him to take up cocoa, he says. “Initially I bought 1,000 seedlings and later added another 800.”

Local sourcing

KP Magudapathy, Associate Vice-President, Cocoa Operations at Mondelez India Foods says the company is committed to cocoa farming in India for close to half-a-century now.

Why India?

As a leader in chocolate manufacturing, Cadbury was initially fully dependent on cocoa imports. That was, and remains an expensive proposition. “We have still not been able to source our entire raw material from the domestic marketplace,” says Manu Anand, Managing Director, Mondelez India Foods.

The company currently sources about a third of its bean requirements locally.

Back in 1965, the company had introduced cocoa on an experimental basis in Kerala, partnering with State agricultural universities. Research showed the land and climate in South India was most conducive for cocoa cultivation.

Next year, Mondelez will celebrate 50 years of cocoa plantation in India. The commercial cultivation helped augment the income of coconut farmers in the adjoining states of Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka.

“Earlier, we used to rely only on the income from our coconut farm. The Eriophyte mite attack shattered our dreams as productivity dipped and, with it, the rate of the nut.

“After intercropping cocoa with coconut, our income has doubled. The leaf droppings (dried leaf) from the cocoa plants enrich the soil. There is roughly about 8 tonnes per hectare. Imagine spending on fertiliser! We are able to save a lot, as these leaves are left to mulch and this helps retain soil moisture too,” says Selvakumar.

That’s not all. Sale of coconut does not fetch ready cash. “The trader seeks a fortnight to settle dues, but for cocoa bean the company pays immediately,” says Selvakumar.

The palatial bungalow inside his coconut grove, two high-end cars parked in the portico, and the pedigree dogs on guard against outsiders speak for themselves.

Selvakumar says he yearned to educate his children (a son and a daughter) in the best of institutions. “My son, an engineer, is working in a top IT company today. He has moved to the US with his family, and my daughter lives in the city.

“I am not sure if either of them will come to live in this farmhouse after me. But mind you, you cannot enjoy this luxury or peace in city-life,” he says as we take leave.

The Cocoa Sustainability Programme, called “Cocoa Life”, has transformed the lives of over one lakh farmers across the four southern states, says Anand of Mondelez India. The company today operates 11 nurseries in this region, providing cocoa seedlings to over 5,000 farmers annually.

The Government, on its part, provides assistance to cocoa farmers under the Mission for Integrated Development of Horticulture.

But despite these efforts, the company has not been able to source its entire bean requirement from the domestic market. Going forward, it hopes to do so.

The writer visited the cocoa farms at the invitation of Mondelez India Foods Ltd

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