Features
Sri Lankan Cocoa – a promising inter-crop with coconut
Sri Lanka’s fame for some of world’s finest cocoa is threatened with the local production volumes declining sharply. Although an ideal inter-crop with coconut, promoting the ecological balance, the disinterest of many local landowners in this wonder crop considered the ‘food of the gods’ is declining at an accelerated pace. We spoke to several Sri Lankan Cocoa enthusiasts who warn that unless urgent interventions are made, Sri Lankan Cocoa is on the path to botanical antiquity.
by Randima Attygalle
Botanically termed Theobroma cacao, the cocoa tree is believed to have originated in the Amazon basin and spread to Central America, largely to Mexico. The natives in this region including Mayans and Olmecs revered it as the ‘food of gods’. Cocoa seeds were used as currency by the Aztecs. By the beginning of the 19th Century, it was introduced to the colonies and was developed in Africa and Asia as a commercial plantation.
Cocoa is mostly processed into chocolate and a wide range of intermediate products such as cocoa liquor, cocoa butter, cocoa cake and raw cocoa powder used in the beverage industry. Cocoa butter is also sought as a base for soap, cosmetics and medicinal products. Its pulp juice is also fermented and used in brandy and wine. The pod husks are used in preparation of animal feed. The husks and shells are also used as a renewable energy source and to produce bio-diesel.
Cocoa thrives in deep, well-drained clay loam soils rich in organic matter. The colonial planters found our immature brown loams and reddish brown latosols to be perfect to introduce cocoa to the island. The first cocoa plantation here at home was set up by the British in 1819 in Nalanda, Matale. By 1960 the island claimed 30,000 acres of cocoa. Today, it is reduced to around 5,000 acres, points out the Director General of the Department of Export Agriculture (DEA), Dr. A.P. Heenkenda. “Among the finest plantations we lost was the Pallakelle Esate of Rajawella Plantations, when the Victoria reservoir was built. Today cocoa is largely an intercrop with coconut,” he says. While Matale, Kandy, Badulla, Kurunegala, Kegalle and Monaragala districts are considered the main cocoa growing area, suitable conditions for its growth can be found even in North Western, Sabaragamuwa, Central and Western Provinces.
Cocoa, Dr. Heenkenda explains, is one of the best intercrops that is presently promoted with coconut and rubber. “We have initiated several projects in Kurunegala and Gampaha districts in collaboration with the Coconut Cultivation Board and another in rubber-centric Moneragala.” Despite the ready know-how being available for cocoa cultivation, the attitude of many growers remains very negative, notes Heenkenda. “While cocoa plants can be obtained from the regional plant nurseries affiliated to DEA, technical know-how is available through DEA Extension Officers at Govijana Sewa Centers, Research Stations, District Assistant Directors’ offices and the DEA’s head office in Peradeniya.”
The cocoa market, according to the International Cocoa Organization (ICCO) distinguishes three main types of cocoa beans: Forastero or ‘bulk cocoa’ comprising 93.5% of world cocoa production; the specialty beans, often originating from Criollo planting materials which is rare today and Trinitario, a hybrid that originated in Trinidad from crossings between mixed Criollo and mixed Forastero types.
Bernard Minifie in his work Chocolate, Cocoa and Confectionery (Third Edition) documents that Criollo-the original “wild” variety is found in very small proportion of the world supply and is found in Samoa, Java, and Sri Lanka. This ‘small proportion’ the author alludes to is made even smaller today, says Dr. H.M.P.A Subasinghe, Director (Research), Department of Export Agriculture. “Today what we mostly find locally are crosses of Criollo and Forastero types,” he says.
The fine taste in Sri Lankan Cocoa due to its chemical composition and the high butter content, still puts it among the finest cocoa in the world, says Subasinghe. “While the butter content found in many other foreign varieties is between 35 to 45% our cocoa contains more than 50% butter.” Despite the lucrative revenue it promises in the global market, disease control efforts, animals such as monkeys and giant squirrels that feed on cocoa pods, lack of knowledge on canopy management and the insufficient domestic market price per kilo compared to other crops such as cinnamon, pepper etc. drive many cultivators to abandon cocoa and replace them alternatives crops such as pepper or cinnamon, he says.
Many measures have already been taken by DEA to revive an interest in Sri Lankan Cocoa. Introduction of new varieties, production of quality planting material, support for selection of suitable land, providing soil test reports, issuing of planting material free of charge after registration, subsidies for relevant machinery and processing centers, subsidies with the success of cultivation (80% field establishment), planting material for gap filling, training programmes on planting material production, crop management, pest and disease control and post-harvest technology and other technology transfer activities at field level and providing price and market information are among these.
Cocoa is largely encouraged as an intercrop with coconut where ideal soil and other climatic conditions meet, particularly in the Kurunegala District, says Subasinghe. “The difficulties in finding suitable lands for cocoa as a monocrop in ‘traditional cocoa-grown areas’ (such as Matale, Kandy, Badulla etc.) can be mitigated when it’s intercropped with coconut. Moreover, farmers can generate a higher income from unit land area with a two-crop yield.” With unprecedented climate change, the yield in a main crop can also increase due to modification of micro-climate in the crop environment, he says. Inter-cropping also has more potential for soil and soil moisture conservation and creates a certain amount of ecological balance, points out the researcher.
The domestic requirement for cocoa is around 6,000 MT. Yet only around 600 MTs are presently produced locally according to DEA figures. While a kilo of local cocoa beans is sold around Rs. 450, the world cocoa beans price is around 3 US$. In 2019 according to the DEA, 48,887.8 MT of cocoa beans were imported to the country costing Rs. 3.46 billion. Imports are made largely from Ghana, Ivory Coast, Malaysia and Indonesia. Compared to other cocoa exporters, our export figures are negligible points out the DEA. Ivory Coast, Ghana, Ecuador, Cameroon, Nigeria, Indonesia, Brazil, Peru and the Dominican Republic are the major cocoa exporters according to the ICCO.
Cocoa can do wonders to coconut plantations providing organic fertilizer (with the leaves that are shed) and retaining moisture, points out S.M.M Samarakoon, CEO of Kurunegala Plantations Ltd. “Climate change has taken a huge toll on coconuts resulting in immature falling of the nuts and cocoa as an intercrop can help build a micro-climate within a plantation and thereby increase the yield by about 26%,” says this senior planter. It is also a buffer against soil erosion he adds.
Today 35 acres of coconut in Dodangaslanda estates of Kurunegala Plantations Ltd are complemented by cocoa. A fervent supporter of cocoa, Samarakoon urges the responsible state authorities to kindle more interest in the crop among potential cultivators by introducing a national policy and encourage confectioners to support growers as part of their CSR campaigns.
While many cultivators who have been discouraged by pests and diseases to which cocoa is prone, including the black pod disease and swollen shoot disease had abandoned most of their cultivation, Samarakoon is positive that if one is really passionate about this crop, there is always a way out. It is also a means of empowering communities at ground level, he believes. “We get the necessary know-how for fighting diseases and for crop management from the DEA and we have also installed a high frequency device to keep the giant squirrels and monkeys away.”
The cocoa beans supply has been declining over the years and in another ten years times, the volumes will deplete further, lament the cocoa bean suppliers to whom we spoke. “It is tragic that when we have some of world’s finest cocoa, there is no state patronage to revive this dying crop,” remarked one of the old hands who lobbies for a wide scale national intervention to replant cocoa and create a dialogue with potential cultivators and offer more incentives and encourage those who are already in the trade by offering a better buying price.
Ceylon Chocolates Ltd (CCL), is the largest buyer of Sri Lankan cocoa in the local market. The company sources cocoa from Matale, Kandy, Kegalle, Kurunegala, Monaragala and Badulla. “CCL’s factory in Kundasale, housed in one of the prime cocoa-growing regions in the country, is the one and only facility in Sri Lanka equipped with the ‘Beans to Bar’ process,” says Thilan Gunarathne, Plant Manager of CCL in Kundasale. “We are positioned to purchase much larger volumes of local cocoa given the capacity of our processing plant. As a company that prides itself in Sri Lankan empowerment, we urge cultivators to revive their interest in this staple of our chocolates.”
Master chocolatier and internationally renowned patissier Gerard Mendis dreams of manufacturing a ‘100% Sri Lankan Cocoa based chocolate’. “This is my ultimate dream,” says Mendis who has grown up among cocoa and coffee in his ancestral Kandy. A cocoa lover and a farmer in his leisure, Mendis laments that despite the prevalence of ideal growing conditions in the island, cocoa’s decline is fast-tracked with no recognition given to it as a sustainable crop. The connoisseur who had learned the art of gourmet chocolate-making in Switzerland and Belgium, candidly admits that he is yet to taste a type of cocoa superior to ours.
(Photo credit: Department of Export Agriculture & Kurunegala Plantations Ltd)