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WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
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Ivory Coast
Index
Figure 9. Cocoa, Coffee, and Timber Producing Areas
Source: Based on information from J.-N. Loucou, "Histoire," in
Pierre Vennetier (ed.), Atlas de la Côte d'Ivoire (2d
ed.), Paris, 1983, 39-45.
In 1988 Côte d'Ivoire led the world in cocoa production
with more
than 500,000 tons (see
table 4, Appendix). Cocoa was grown
mainly
on small family-owned farms with labor supplied
principally by
immigrants from other African countries. Production growth
averaged
6 percent to 7 percent a year throughout the 1965-74
period and
accelerated as the plantings of the late 1970s and the
early 1980s
entered their prime. The total area of cocoa cultivation
more than
doubled from 1973 to 1983, from 611,000 hectares to
1,398,900
hectares.
In Côte d'Ivoire, cocoa became a cash crop only in
1912, when
colonial authorities forced Africans to cultivate it.
Cocoa, like
coffee, was a forest crop; it required ample rainfall,
partial
shade, and shelter from wind, all of which occurred only
in the
southern forest zone
(see
fig. 9). Cocoa trees produced
pods, which
grew on the trunk and older branches, beginning at four or
five
years, and continued producing for twenty to thirty years.
The pods
were harvested from June through August and from November
through
January, although some pods ripened throughout the year.
After
harvest, the beans and pulp were extracted from the pods
and
allowed to ferment for six or seven days and then dried.
Yields
averaged 220 kilograms per hectare. The bulk of the crop
was
produced on small plots of one or two hectares.
Côte d'Ivoire's success as a cocoa producer has been a
mixed
blessing. In September 1987, cocoa prices fell to their
lowest
levels since 1983. In December prices were even lower
following
forecasts that the world surplus for the 1987-88 season
would be
substantially higher than the previous season's, marking
the fourth
successive year of a world cocoa surplus. In September
1987, talks
aimed at restoring the price support mechanisms of the
International Cocoa Organization ended in failure when
producers
and consumers were unable to agree on the price level to
be
defended.
Data as of November 1988
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