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Trinidad and Tobagos cocoa sector..bravos
sgtdjones
2017-10-13 10:25:57
Breathing new life into Trinidad and Tobago’s cocoa sector
Making chocolate in the Caribbean – it sounds like a dream. But Trinidad and Tobago’s once-mighty cocoa industry faces many challenges. Annual production has plummeted from 30,000 tons of beans a century ago to just 500 tons in recent decades.
Unique genetic diversity
Trinidad and Tobago produces some of the world’s highest-grade cocoa beans. “Trinitario is one of the most flavorsome cocoa you can get,” Mr. Parasram explains. Bred for disease and pest resilience in the 17th century, Trinitario is a combination of Criollo and Forastero varieties.
These three varieties are used to produce chocolate. Criollo and Trinitario varieties are generally considered high-grade, “fine” or “flavor” beans, and Forastero is considered a lower-grade “ordinary” or “bulk” bean for mass production.
The genetic diversity of Trinitario in Trinidad and Tobago is second to none. “We have over 100 strains of Trinitario in Trinidad and Tobago. The plant’s genetic diversity on the islands is unique,” he observes.
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sgtdjones
2017-10-13 10:26:25
bravos
2017-10-13 11:36:03
In reply to sgtdjones
Yes saw it at 3 am,thought you would catch up with it.. 
Narper
2017-10-13 12:03:35
In reply to sgtdjones
AGRIculture is like any other culture...when it dies that is it...very difficult to revive it....1970s oil boom and the following construction boom started to kill agriculture in Trinidad. Young men left the land to make quick bucks in construction in the late 70s and 80s....1990s Caroni ltd was closed and that was almost the end of sugar...and the young and old men left the land very very bitter
When I was at St Augustine campus in late 70s, the World Cocoa Research centre was located at St Augustine....there was a very small cocoa plantation on campus (a stone's throw from the PBR)...not there anymore...in fact it was abandoned even before I left T&T
When I got married in the very early 80s, around the area where my wife came from in South Trinidad , there were large cocoa plantations. Two years ago, when I visited T&T and her parent's place...I couldn't recognize the place...cocoa plantation gone....big big fancy houses took its place
Trini cocoa was known to have the best flavour in the world
A good friend of mine who is also now living in Canada mentioned to me a few years ago that cocoa estates have been abandoned in T&T....no labour available to work the land anymore
Only god can really help the cocoa industry in T&T.
sgtdjones
2017-10-13 13:23:28
In reply to Narper
In T&T if we look at the latest budget the smallest allocation was towards Agriculture.
T&T imports over 8 billion annually in this sector. As you noted the last 3 governments
moto was we can buy stuff.
Oil and gas which at one time produced over 20 billion in forex now producing approx 3
billion according to the last budget.
Alberta and Saskatchewan had at one time over 60 billion in its Heritage Funds owing
to the Oil boom and each almost the same population as T&T. They used such for infrastructure and reshaping their economies.
Alberta pumps over 2 million barrels of oil per day to the US.
Saskatchewan used it for infrastructure and development of secondary industries.
They both are part of the untouched Bakken Shale deposit, 2/3 is in Canada.
Saskatchewan has massive deposits of Oil, gas, and potash.
They didn't give up farming it's their lifeblood. Changed from wheat only and now plant other grains such as barley, Oats, Corn and Soya beans etc. It provides jobs and helps the economy.
T&T must change its thinking Agriculture to feed its people first, but as you noted
where will the labour come from.The next two years will be interesting.
They just have to look at next door Venezuela. Oil-rich with land as its people
struggle for simple staple items.
jelfew
2017-10-13 14:45:15
In reply to sgtdjones
Agriculture is a hard task master. Speaking of the cocoa industry, I remember when Jamaica had a striving industry. They built a factory (in the parish of St. Mary) to produce "High Gate"chocolate, thus replacing cadbury imports. The cocoa developed disease, the farms failed and the factory closed.
The same has happened to banana and "St. Mary" banana chips are now made from imports.
sgtdjones
2017-10-13 16:37:46
In reply to jelfew
I understand what you are saying.
Now if we had approached the UWI and gave it funds to do research, today, one would
have plants that are bred for disease and pest resilience.
Costa Rica did it and now control the North American market for Bananas and pineapples.
We give up to easily.
Emir
2017-10-13 17:24:02
In reply to jelfew
Correct. Trinidad does not have economies of scale for large agricultural production to compete with larger countries with naturally more land. As a result heavy mechanization to reduce manual labor is a non starter as is the cocoa industry.
With cocoa I have been hearing the taste argument for decades, this argument hold no water as taste is relative and COCOA cultivation is immensely difficult- you needs tens of thousands of acreage to be viable.
What Trinidad needs is small scale farmers feeding the nation, forget export, focus on fruits and vegetables- this will reduce the import drain by billions and lead to healthier populations.
Subsidies and other incentives for small scale farming and animal and fish cultivation is the way to go.
Subsidies can partially be paid for by a tax on foreign junk food franchise establishments
