A SHARP increase in cocoa production on East Vella, Western Province, has over-whelmed the capacity of rural cocoa processors and bean traders this season. Bean buyers and processors operating from the cocoa growing areas of Varese, Sabora, Vonunu, Barakoma and right down to Ruruvae, Beiporo and Orete are finding difficulties in coping with working capital to purchase wet and dry beans, enough fermentary boxes and drier size to meet the this year’s high production.
Recent visit to the area and three processing and traders at Beiporo and Uzamba last week showed that these operators have been selling close to 65 bags of dried cocoa during the beginning of the cocoa season in May, while holding 20 bags dry beans in stock and 84 bags dry bean equivalent of wet beans in the fermentary boxes. Other buyers and processors in Barakoma and Sabora are doing much higher purchases and sales.
East Vella is particularly blessed with good soil , classified as Alokan Land System which is very suitable for coconut, cocoa and food cropping. The area is also well-covered with coconut plantations that also provided shade for cocoa inter-cropping system.
It appears that this recent up-surge in interest on cocoa farming in the area which resulted in high production can be partly attributed to the concerted efforts by CEMA conducting cocoa processing workshops in early 2009, followed by CLIP cocoa rehabilitation and new plantings as well as own efforts by the farmers themselves. Current Participatory Action Research (PAR) programme conducted by MAL extension coupled with the stimulative role of wet and dry bean traders also contribute to the current interest farming cocoa in East Vella and to a lesser extent in Northern Vella.
In the meantime, there are more ripening cocoa pods in the plantations. With this current situation, East Vella alone will easily produce at least 100 tonnes of dry beans this year- same as what the whole province produced in the 80s.
Like most other cocoa growing areas in the country, financing working capital to purchase beans and improve capacity of processing facilities as well as linking with reliable exporters/buyers and transport continues to be the challenge for East Vella cocoa growers and traders.
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