Cocoa (Theobroma cacao) is grown in tropical environments, with the majority produced in Africa (Ivory Coast, Ghana, Nigeria, Cameroon), Central and South America (especially in Ecuador and Brazil), and Indonesia. It is an important part of these countries’ economy.

   In India, cocoa is mainly cultivated in Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu primarily as an intercrop with Arecanut and Coconut. The area under its cultivation has gradually been promoted by many chocolate producing companies, as contract farming. In 2008, India produced approximately 8500 metric tonnes of cocoa.

    The Cocoa plant is a small (4 to 8 m height) evergreen tree. Cocoa is the dried and fully fermented fatty seed of the cacao tree from which chocolate is made. “Cocoa” is often linked with the common drink ‘hot chocolate’, cocoa powder, the dry powder made by grinding cocoa seeds and removing the cocoa butter from the dark,....