Now, farmers to savour the sweetness of cocoa


 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 .....Read more

 

Source web page:New Indian Express


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