Cocoa Bean

Cocoa crop thrives in tropical climates and production is therefore dominated by countries in those regions, while consumption is mostly by countries in temperate regions of the world. West Africa is a major producer accounting for approximately 70% of global production which fluctuates annually with climatic variations. This is often cyclical with periods of rapid expansion followed by periods of stasis. However, overall production continues to expand with cultivation becoming more widespread.

The Cocoa Transformation Plan of the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development set a national target for production at 500,000 MT by 2015 and 1 million MT by 2018. This is to build on the target of 600,000 MT by 2015 set by the National Cocoa Development Committee. Between 2002 and 2007 NCDC distributed inputs for cocoa farming to farmers at 50% subsidy. The Committee also raised 62 million high yielding early maturing hybrid seedlings – enough to plant 56,000 hectares of new cocoa fields.

Farmers are responding to rising international market prices for cocoa and reports indicate a potential increase in production resulting from adoption of improved production practices to meet the UTZ certification requirements. There are indications that farmers are willing to rehabilitate abandoned farms and to increase area under production[6]. Production has however been hampered by the inability of the Cocoa Research Institute of Nigeria to meet demand for seedlings, and utilize adequate mechanisms for distributing improved varieties of cocoa to farmers. Production has therefore fallen short of 2015 targets of 500,000 MT.

The optimal storage conditions are temperature. 18-20 ° С and relative air humidity 70 % In such conditions, cocoa beans can be stored for a long time without deterioration. At high relative humidity (75% or more) cocoa beans can mold.

Grade I:

(a) mouldy beans, maximum 3 per cent by count;

(b) slaty beans, maximum 3 per cent by count;

(c) insect-damaged, germinated, or flat beans, total maximum 3% .



Grade II:

(a) mouldy beans, maximum 4 per cent by count;

(b) slaty beans, maximum 8 per cent by count;

(c) insect-damaged, germinated, or flat beans, total maximum 6%



Moisture: – 7.5% max

Size: – Not more than 12% outside the range

Foreign Matter: – 2% max

The cocoa bean, also cacao bean or simply cocoa or cacao, is the dried and fully fermented fatty seed of Theobroma cacao, from which cocoa solids and cocoa butter are extracted. They are the basis of chocolate, as well as many Mesoamerican foods such as mole sauce.

A cocoa pod (fruit) has a rough and leathery rind about 2 cm (0.79 in) to 3 cm (1.2 in) thick (this varies with the origin and variety of pods). It is filled with sweet, mucilaginous pulp with a lemonade-like taste enclosing 30 to 50 large seeds that are fairly soft and pale lavender to dark brownish-purple color. Due to heat build-up in the fermentation process, cacao beans lose most of the purplish hue and become mostly brown in color, with an adhered skin that includes the dried remains of the fruity pulp. This skin is released easily after roasting by winnowing. White seeds are found in some rare varieties, usually mixed with purples, and are considered of higher value.

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