According to historians, cocoa appeared in Central America about 5,000 years ago. In a relatively short period of time, cocoa beans gained immense popularity, and cocoa production reached global proportions. We will tell you about the countries that hold the leading positions in the production of cocoa.
We are all different and each has its own associations: for some it is just a pleasure, while for others it is a bad habit, or a weakness that can be equated with drinking alcohol. But for most farmers, cocoa is a huge revenues industry. According to 2016 statistics, the total revenue from the chocolate business was $ 98.3 billion.
Chocolate is made from cocoa beans, which are known to grow on cocoa trees. Today, the production and consumption of chocolate is a complex network of the world market.
The top 10 consists of states scattered across four continents. So which countries grow and harvest the largest cocoa beans? According to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, we have compiled a list of leaders in cocoa production worldwide:
10. Dominican Republic
With the emergence of ethical standards in the production of chocolate, the Dominican Republic immediately took the leading position in the world for two reasons. First, the government has made efforts to ensure that cocoa is produced in an environmentally friendly manner. In addition, since 2009, the Dominican Republic has topped the list of Fairtrade certified cocoa producing countries and remains the world leader in this area.
Fairtrade products are tested by global trade organizations to ensure farmers receive adequate compensation for producing their crops.
Two different types of cocoa are grown in the Dominican Republic: buttery is considered cheaper, and is known worldwide as Sanchez. The second type is dry cocoa with a more fermented bean, it is called Hispaniola. In total, 68,021 tons of cocoa beans were produced in the country in 2013.
9. Peru
In Peru, the constant struggle of farmers for arable land is severely holding back the pace of cocoa production. The second most popular plant grown in the country is coca, as you know, cocaine is obtained from it. Coca is perfectly adapted to this climate and generates much higher income, which forces farmers to leave the cocoa business.
It should be noted that in recent years Peru has become the largest producer of cocaine worldwide. More than 60,000 hectares of land are used for coca cultivation, from which approximately 340 tons of cocaine are obtained. By comparison, cocoa trees cover only 48,000 hectares of land, and the total cocoa production is 71,175 tonnes of cocoa beans.
8. Mexico
World renowned chocolate factories Hershey and Ferrero recently invested heavily in cocoa production in Mexico, but even with these colossal investments, Mexican cocoa production has declined by 50% since the early 2000s. In fact, Mexico imports more cocoa than it exports. The main reason for the decline in the cocoa crop in Mexico is a disease that affects the cocoa beans.
Pod rot has ruined the Mexican cocoa crop for years. However, there is now hope for new hybrid varieties that may prove to be resistant to this disease. Mexico produced more than 82,000 tonnes of cocoa beans last year, according to FAO.
7. Ecuador
Ecuador's cocoa industry is one of the oldest in the world: on the shores of the Ecuadorian Amazon, archaeologists recently discovered traces of cocoa in pottery that was made more than 5,000 years ago. Today, Ecuadorians revered the cocoa industry, as the country's total cocoa production is 128,446 tons.
Of course, the volume of cocoa production in Ecuador cannot be compared to the global capacity of the cocoa industry located in West Africa. But this is only in terms of the volume of gross production, since many connoisseurs consider Ecuadorian chocolate to be the best in quality.
Although many international chocolate companies buy cocoa from Africa, small artisans prefer Ecuadorian cocoa. So, as in their opinion, it is it that is capable of satisfying even the most sophisticated tastes.
6. Brazil
In the world, people definitely want to consume more cocoa than they produce. Nowhere is this situation more pronounced than in Brazil. It is a country whose cocoa production has dropped dramatically in recent years. In fact, since 1998, Brazil has been a net importer of cocoa - that is, Brazilians consume more cocoa than they sell.
And this situation is unlikely to change any time soon: the Brazilian government predicts that cocoa production will decline by another 15.7% by 2024. However, Brazil remains the largest cocoa producer in the Americas with a harvest of 256,186 tonnes of cocoa beans in 2013.
5. Cameroon
In terms of total weight, West Africa produces more cocoa than any other region in the world. Cameroon has historically been one of the world's largest cocoa producers, increasing its total production to 275,000 tonnes in 2013. Despite this, Cameroon's cocoa business is under threat.
Poor management of cocoa production has led to a dire situation: many cocoa trees in Cameroon are out of bearing age. Without new trees and enough space to plant them, farmers will face a difficult harvest battle.
4. Nigeria
Rising global prices, demand, and the increasing availability of advanced agricultural technologies have contributed to significant growth in the Nigerian cocoa industry.
Positive numbers do not mean the Nigerian cocoa industry is out of trouble. Oxfam has identified a serious gender equality gap in cocoa farms in Nigeria. According to the data, women and men who do the same work during the cocoa harvest are often paid unequally.
3. Indonesia
There was almost no cocoa in Indonesia until the early 1980s, however, with its introduction, the cocoa industry began to develop at rocket speed. Now it is the third largest producer of cocoa beans in the world, whose production volumes increased to 777.5 thousand tons.
One of the main concerns of the Indonesian cocoa crop is insects, which are holding back growth in the industry. Until the early 2000s, the cocoa industry in Indonesia was on an upward development path, but since then the development trajectory has leveled off. As in Ghana and Cote d'Ivoire, most of Indonesia's cocoa crop comes from smallholder farming. Small farms are much more efficient than many large corporate farms.
2. Ghana
In Ghana, cocoa is the king of the industry, producing just under one-sixth of the country's GDP. More than three-quarters of the country's farmers consider themselves to be small farmers, while living and working on the territory of their estates. Despite the lack of corporate oversight - or perhaps due to its presence elsewhere - high production costs are bad for the Ghanaian cocoa industry.
Some Ghanaian farmers are smuggling cocoa into Côte d'Ivoire, where sales are up nearly 50%. Of the 835,466 tonnes of cocoa grown in the West African country, most of it will be smuggled.
1. Côte d'Ivoire
On the shores of Côte d'Ivoire, 30% of all cocoa in the world is produced, respectively, in the rest of the world more than half a million metric tons are grown with a total harvest of 1,448,992 tons.Companies such as Nestle and Cadbury source most of the cocoa they need from Côte d'Ivoire, bringing nearly two-thirds of trade revenue to that country.
Recently, there have been serious complaints about cocoa producers. Child laborers have been found on many of the farms responsible for the giant national output. As it turns out, some of them are subjected to 100-hour workweeks and even physical abuse. In addition to the harsh working conditions, children working on the Ivory Coast often receive no education at all.
Last year, a farmer from Côte d'Ivoire filmed a sensational video that went viral across the web. In this video, a farmer tastes a bar of chocolate for the first time. He never tasted chocolate, despite the fact that growing cocoa was his life's work.
We recommend watching:
Video on how cocoa is produced, all stages of its production. You will see with your own eyes how these beans grow and how they are processed before they become chocolate.
