KOCHI: A tectonic shift is taking place in the hills. After a hiatus, cocoa has once again shot into prominence. If coconut and rubber fetched record prices until a few decades ago, now the traditional sectors are in the throes of change, prompting farmers to embrace alternative crops like cocoa.
Unlike in the 80s and 90s when cocoa cultivators suffered due to lack of scientific processing technologies and market interventions, the crop has now caught the fancy of farmers.
Joby Thomas, 42, of Adimali in Idukki has been cultivating pepper, rubber and nutmeg in his ancestral plot of 15 acres at Kambilikandam for over a quarter of a century. For the first time in his career, he made a bold decision - to fell matured rubber trees in two acres and plant cocoa saplings instead.
Cocoa has emerged as one of the most profitable farming ventures in the state of late, thanks to the changing lifestyle of urban India, where the use of chocolates and the diversified products of cocoa are finding a new niche.
Yes, cocoa farming is gaining a foothold in the state at the expense of rubber and coconut as there is good demand for the pods in the chocolate and confectionery manufacturing industry. Buoyed by the good response from the field, the state government has also decided to raise the total acreage under cultivation by adding 1,000 more hectares this year as part of ‘Cocoa Village’ project under the Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana programme. As much as `120 lakh has been earmarked by the government. Dr B Suma, head of the Cocoa Research Station of the Kerala Agricultural University, told Express the emerging scenario in urban India is redefining the prospects of cocoa farmers in the country.
“If the industry requires around 30,000 tonnes of cocoa beans per year, our annual production is around 18,920 tonnes as per the production statistics of last year. The rest of the demand is met by importing cocoa from countries like Ghana, she said. Further, while the cocoa industry is registering a growth of 3-7 per cent globally, the growth in the country is about 15 per cent, indicating a bright future for the farmers in four cocoa cultivating states - Kerala, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh. According to the office of the Directorate of Cashewnut and Cocoa Development in Kochi, if the area under acreage cultivation of cocoa in Kerala was about 11,044 hectares in 2010, it has jumped to 15,894 hectares in 2016-17 fiscal.
‘’Currently, unshelled cocoa and processed and dried cocoa fetch a price of `50 and `165 per kg respectively in the local market, which is profitable for the farmers,” said Joby. Unlike rubber and coconut, cocoa farming is not expensive as it does not require much labour. Besides, the crop starts yielding round the year after 18 months of planting. On the other hand, rubber requires around 8-10 years to get yield, he said.
Since cocoa is cultivated in Kerala as an inter-crop, unlike in Andhra where the farmers cultivate it as a mono-crop, it will not be affected by the volatility in the market. If there is any price fluctuation, the farmers can hold the produce for some time till the market stabilises as they can depend on the income from other crops till the volatility is over. Unlike in the 80s, our markets are now flooded with chocolates and confectioneries and the penetration is very visible in rural pockets of the state. So, there is no need to worry about market fluctuation in the new era, said Suma.