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KALRO cocoa seedling sales up 158% as Kenyans grow homemade chocolate for their families and sales

Cocoa
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KALRO has increased its cocoa seedling sales by 158 per cent in the last three years as Kenyans look to farm homemade chocolate and build a local chocolate cottage industry.

According to data provided to Farmbiafrica by KALRO Mtwapa, the sales of Criollo and Forastero cocoa trees increased from 650 seedlings in July 2021 to June 2022 to 1145 seedlings in July 2022 to June 2023 and finally by 46.4 percent to 1676 seedlings between July 2023 and June 2024. 

Lucky who oversees the tree nursery at KALRO’s Mtwapa branch explains that this demand has largely been driven by individual curiosity. ”Many farmers remember cocoa as a fruit they were taught grew in West Africa when they were in school and are curious to try it out when they learn that it can be farmed in Kenya. Because it is easy to make chocolate and chocolate powder from cocoa seeds, they pick up ten to thirty seedlings for their family’s consumption,” he explained.

Cocoa bean value addition can be done at home by roasting and grinding the beans into powder which is mixed with water/ milk and sugar to make a drink. The ground beans can also be blended with sugar and any other preferred additives to make chocolate while cocoa powder can be removed to make cocoa butter.

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The two varieties of cocoa sold by KALRO Criollo and Forastero mature in two to three years from seedlings and produce 150 pods/six kilograms of beans per tree every year. Each cocoa pod contains up to 50 large beans. To make a kilogram of chocolate you need 300 to 600 beans.

Anthony Mugambi who is growing more than 220 cocoa trees bought from KALRO Mtwapa on his 40-acre farm in Nkubu, Meru County, has set his sights on more than just his family’s consumption. With his trees set to produce up to 6,600 kilograms of cocoa beans in the next year, he is bandying together with other cocoa farmers in Kenya to create a local cocoa cottage industry.

“With a rainfall requirement of 1500 to 2500 (irrigation is also an option) and suited to temperatures of between 27-32 degrees, cocoa is growable in many parts of Kenya. Once my cocoas fruit I am not looking to sell them raw but rather add value to them. Kenyans consume tonnes of expensively imported chocolate yet we could process cocoa locally and build a thriving agro-processing industry,” Mugambi said.

Cocoa
A cocoa tree on Anthony Mugambi’s farm

70 per cent of the world’s cocoa is grown in the West African countries of Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Cameroon, and Nigeria. 

Uganda is leading the light in cocoa farming in East Africa with the country producing 60 million dollars worth of cocoa in 2022.  According to the Uganda National Agriculture Advisory cocoa is currently just behind coffee, tea, and fish as the country’s main export earner. It is among the most valuable crops globally and earns local farmers 7,329 Ugandan Shillings a kilogram in local markets. However, the majority of beans are exported raw to India, Malaysia, the EU, and Indonesia.

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In 2024, cocoa prices have surged by as high as 129 per cent compared to previous years as farms in Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana, which together account for more than half of the global supply have been hit by Swollen Shoot Virus and Black Pod fungal disease whose spread had been exacerbated by a prolonged wet and humid season.

In response to the rising prices, Côte d’Ivoire increased the price paid to farmers by 20 per cent in October 2024 to curb cocoa bean smuggling and to dissuade farmers from harvesting unripe beans.

According to the Centre for the Promotion of Imports from developing countries, the global cocoa beans market was valued at $16 billion in 2023 and is anticipated to grow by 7 per cent every year to over $22 billion by 2028.

Lucky, Kalro Mtwapa: 0740209493


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