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The cocoa or cacao is the seed of Theobroma cacao that is dried and fully fermented. Nigeria cocoa beans are used in the production of chocolate, cocoa butter for the cosmetic industry and cocoa powder to get used as a beverage. 

Cocoa has been grown in Nigeria for a good while. In the 1950s and 1960s, it was a primary foreign exchange earner, and by 1970 the country held second place in the world production. Bonny and Calabar were the earliest cocoa farms in Nigeria in the 1870s, but unsuitability of the two saw establishment of a farm in Lagos and more in Agege and Ota. The planting spread to western Nigeria, and farmers experimented more in different states. Before 1950, Nigeria had two main varieties growing in the Amelonado cocoa and a Trinidad variety (Trinitario)

The cocoa pod has a 2-3 cm thick rind that is leathery and rough. A 35cm long and 12cm wide pod has about 30 to 40 beans. It is full of pulp that tastes like lemonade and encloses 30-50 large relatively soft one-inch seeds that are pale lavender to dark brownish-purple in colour.  The cocoa pod grows from a large branch or trunk of the evergreen tree.

Nigeria’s cocoa is its leading agricultural export, and this puts the country in fourth place globally in terms of production.  As of 2010, cocoa production summed up to 0.3% of the country’s GDP and its average production between the years 2000 to 2019 was 389,272 each year. 

Small scale farmers do cocoa cultivation on 2-hectare farmlands, and the export gets handled by a few firms. Major states that produce cocoa are Oyo, Ondo, Cross River, Ogun, Ekiti, Delta, Osun and Akwa Ibom. 

Nigeria cocoa beans are of the Forastero variety. They have an earthy flavour profile and are robust in nature. Their yield production is high and they are not susceptible to diseases. Forastero has varieties like Amelonada and has been hybridized with Criollo cocoa variety to produce Trinitario.

Nigerian cocoa trees are first grown in nurseries and are transplanted when they reach a 3cm height. The cocoa does well in the high temperatures of between 18°c and 32°c and distributed rain that does not fall below 1cm for a period of more than three months. Regions with a daytime humidity of up to 100% and a night time humidity of up to 80% are excellent for the cocoa. For optimum growth, soils that are rich, deep and well-drained.

Harvesting occurs over several months in a year, not necessarily during one period. This process is partly because the pods do not all ripen together. Harvesting is spread over many several months once or twice a year. In Nigeria, harvesting gets done from September through March.  Harvest involves using a curved knife on a pole to cut the stem of the ripe pods from the cocoa tree trunk and branches. In order to expose the beans, a machete is used to cut the pods open. The seeds are fermented, and the pulp is juiced. Cacao beans lose their purplish hue because of the heat build-up during the fermentation process and become brown with attached skin. This skin is removed by winnowing after roasting the seeds.

The seeds should be dry for shipping and are shipped in mega bulk parcels containing several thousand tonnes at a go or standardized 62.5kg a bag or 200 or 240 bags per 20ft container. They are stored in cool, dry and sealed conditions.

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