Cocoa Industry in Jamaica

Abstract

IN Extension Circular No. 7 (Department of Agriculture, Jamaica), J. Wright discusses “The Resuscitation of the Cocoa Industry in Jamaica". Good cocoa countries are limited, as the crop requires a temperature of not less than 60° F., a well-distributed rainfall of more than sixty inches, a suitable soil and an adequate population to ‘attend to its cultivation. The bulk of the world's cocoa is produced in West Africa and Brazil ; but since output has fallen so heavily in the former area owing to the ravages of insect pests and virus disease, new sources of production must be found. In times past, Jamaica had quite a thriving cocoa industry which was superseded by the more lucrative banana crop. Large tracts of land, however, which would be suitable for cocoa, still exist, and in view of the present-day troubles with banana disease, the re-introduction of the cocoa industry would seem very desirable ; the more so as, with a properly planned economy, the two crops should fit in well together. Bananas form a good nurse crop and provide the necessary shade for cocoa, while cocoa plus shade would check soil erosion on steep lands. Good quality cocoa of the Criollo and Trinitario types are suggested as most suited to the climate, and emphasis laid on the necessity for marketing a high-grade product if the scheme is to be an economic success.