Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications
Wednesday, Mar 20, 2002
Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications Wednesday, Mar 20, 2002 |
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Agri-Biz & Commodities
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Plantations Cocoa comes to planters' rescue Aravindan
KOTTAYAM, March 19 WHILE there have been severe setbacks for major crops including tea, coffee, rubber, pepper, coconut etc, the only crop which has survived the price crisis and offers a sustainable price is cocoa, according to Mr Thomas John, General Manager (Cocoa Operations ), Cadbury India Ltd. The production cost of cocoa was low compared to other plantation crops and proper upkeep and maintenance would also enhance production with an average of 300 fruits per plant, he said. Cocoa is an ideal intercrop in rubber, tea and coconut and offers a good supplementary income to growers who suffer from price fall of the main crop. While a grower gets Rs17 per kg for wet beans in Kerala, his counterpart in Africa and elsewhere is offered only Rs 12 per kg. In Kerala, Cadbury India Ltd started cocoa cultivation. The first plantation came up in Choondal in Wayanad in 1966. Now Cadbury procures 70 per cent of the total crop produced by 4,000 cocoa growers in the State. The annual production of cocoa in the country is around 6,500 tonnes. But this forms only 50 per cent of the total consumption in the country. With domestic consumption growing at the rate of 12 per cent every year, cocoa production fails to meet the demand. Presently, about 56,975 acres is under cocoa cultivation in the country. The Kerala Agricultural University's `Co-operative cocoa research project' financed by Cadbury, is working towards evolving new disease resistant and high yielding cocoa varieties. The `top working' method introduced by the research project is capable of enhancing productivity from old and uneconomic plants. More steps are on the cards to undertake cocoa planting on a scientific basis so as to obtain maximum yield from the existing plantations.
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