Climate change compromises production and cocoa prices soar

Brazil has great potential for growth in cocoa production, and this has attracted the attention of different actors in the chain [produtiva]. For some years now, the government, the milling industry, the chocolate industry and producers have been working in partnership to increase national production
Anna Paula Losi

Investments must be used for improvements. These resources and projects are focused on improvements in existing planting areas, such as those in the south of Bahia, Pará, Espírito Santo and Rondônia, but also on technical assistance, renewal of areas and improvement of densities.

New planting areas. Losi also reinforces that production is emerging in new areas, in “non-traditional regions, with a focus on cocoa cultivation to recover degraded areas” and that the country, “in the coming years, has the potential to return to producing volume that meets the market domestic and export” — which would include expansion to “international trade in industrialized products.”

National competitiveness. Professor Lima Júnior assesses that Brazil can “take advantage of the positive margins and develop a program to encourage national competitiveness, with the inclusion of technologies and improvements in management and management”, compensating for the competitive loss of other years.

The drop in prices was followed by the technological reduction in the agricultural area, a condition that is visible in the low volume produced per hectare among small producers when compared to companies that adopt more advanced cultivation and production techniques.
José Carlos de Lima Júnior

Diversify production. Focusing on the production of niche cocoa, such as fine or aromatic cocoa, or organic, would be another recommended initiative, capable of benefiting both the producer and consumers in search of differentiated foods.