Cocoa farming is one of the best investment opportunities for people mostly young people. Some graduate people see/hear farmers as the poor, illiterate, and worst people in the world, they prefer a white-collar job without knowing that farmers are the best. Cocoa is one of the fastest-selling agricultural products in the market. It is a profitable business that generates more income in different ways. If you treat/manage your Cocoa farm very well it will serve you for the rest of your life. To start a cocoa farm business you must follow some steps. Here are the steps to start a cocoa business.
Farming is a way or method in which people practice cultivating the land. It is also a method of planting seeds and growing crops or keeping animals. It is also based on producing raw materials for personal purposes and commercial purposes.
Farming is a lucrative business nowadays that gives a huge profit but it’s a shame that most of our youth don’t want to do such a thing.
How to start a cocoa farm business
Before you can begin to start a cocoa farm there are some basic things that you should know. Below are the steps to follow.
Planning (A business plan)
The first thing before starting anything in life, you must have a plan. A business plan is a document that will contain your outline and then strategize how you want to implement your business idea. It will also serve as a guide, aim, and objective throughout your business.
Capital
To start any business you must have capital most especially the cocoa business requires to have sufficient capital to start with, if you have capital all the remaining steps are easy. You can approach any place to borrow money it may be from family and friends, banks, your savings, and other places with a business plan.
Land
This is the third step to follow and it’s easy since you have your capital. Search and select suitable land to set up your plantation. According to the research, a forest is good for planting cocoa because the land will be covered by the rainforest canopy, it helps cocoa to grow under a dense rainforest canopy and it will provide help for sufficient nourishment for plantation. Choose between buying land or leasing it, but the better one is to buy a land because leasing land the owner may increase the leasing fees if the person sees how well your farm is at any time.
Note: Cocoa can only be done under a good temperature and the trees do not like too much sun.
Soil
Determine the soil you want to use to set up your cocoa plantation. Select the right quality of soil that has a good nutrients because it will help your cocoa to grow faster.
Selection of cocoa
We have different cocoa seeds that we can grow
Forasteros
This is the best cocoa seed and it is mostly used anywhere in the world. it reduced the aromatic cocoa flavor and which is produced by 85% of global cocoa cultivation.
Criollo
This is the finest type of cocoa beans, the yields are smaller when compared with other cocoa breeds and it is easily prone to pests and diseases. It is not popular like forasteros seeds.
Trinitario
The aim is to harvest the potential of Forastero and the aroma of Criollo. It has a good higher quality/yield than Forasteros.
Cocoa Breeding
This is the process of planting a cocoa tree. It can be done in different ways.
Seeding
This method is commonly used to plant cocoa. This is the ability to grow trees from seeds. Using this method you are to take beans from pods within 15 good days of harvest and should be planted under a good soil and suitable climatic condition.
Cutting
This is the method of cuttings 2-4 leaves and 1-2 buds to grow coco. Then, cut the leaves and placed them under a prepared pot with polythene. Once it starts growing you can transfer it to the plantation.
Budding
This is another method of breeding cocoa and it is to pluck buds from the cocoa tree and place it under another tree. Then cut the old tree when the new cocoa tree begins to develop.
How to maximize your plantation
For a good farmer to have the best seed of cocoa, he should be maximizing the rate of planting cocoa on land to prevent disease. To plant cocoa from one tree to another should not be less than 3metre and 1,200 per hectare. In some areas, people do plant the banana tree on the cocoa plantations to give shade to the new/young cocoa trees.
Also, Read:
Harvesting
You can harvest your plantation between 4years above starting from the day you planted it. Most parts of the countries started to harvest their cocoa plantation in July, August, September, and November of every year but this might differ for some countries.
If you find this article on how to start a cocoa farm business helpful, please do not hesitate to share it with friends.