Look at cocoa industry as a business venture

Tue, Jun 19. 2012

Editor: A number of farmers have said that if they can get EC$3.00 per pound for cocoa, scraped from the pod, then they are ready to plant cocoa.{{more}}

Unfortunately the EC$3.00 per lb. offered by Armajaro is not real. Here are some facts.

Dry cocoa beans from SVG will sell at a price similar to Grenada and Trinidad and Tobago cocoa, i.e. EC$12 to $13 per kilogram or EC$5.50 per lb to $6.00 per lb.

It takes 2.5lb to 3lb of wet cocoa to yield 1lb of dry. One early study by Arthur Knapp Cadbury research scientists provides these figures:

Weight of wet cocoa 100lbs

Loss from fermentation 20-25lbs

Loss from drying 40lbs

Weight of dry cocoa remaining 35-40lbs

So, if the 100lbs of wet cocoa, which makes 40 lbs of dried cocoa is worth $240 (40×6), then the most a farmer can expect to get is $2.40 per lb. for wet cocoa.

But wait, for wet cocoa to reach the international market, it takes money to be fermented and dried and that money comes from the $2.40 per lb. Then it costs more money to grade and store the cocoa here until we have a shipment; then it costs money to ship the beans, to store them overseas before delivering them to a buyer. All these costs come out of the $2.40 that the overseas market pays. And then, what about the slice that Armajaro will take out of the $2.40?

The cocoa group estimates that one pound of wet cocoa will sell for $1.00 per lb or less.

The price which Armajaro is promoting is mistaken and false. We wonder why leaders in the Ministry of Agriculture are encouraging this kind of deception, as they promote the Armajaro project.

The cocoa group is encouraging farmers to look at a new cocoa industry as a business venture and examine every aspects of it carefully. Get involved in the cooperative for cocoa growers and make a success of this venture.

Oscar Allen